,,good ,,sense ,,without ,,god3 ,,or ,,freethoughts ,,opposed ,,to ,,supernatural ,,ideas ,by ,baron ,d'holbach ,freethinker's ,library ,series ,london3 ,w4 ,stewart ,co4 ,a ,translation ,of ,baron ,d'holbach's ,le ,bon ,sens ,transcriber's note3 this e-text is based on an undated ,english translation of ,le ,bon ,sens published c4 #aijj4 ,the name of the translator was not stated4 ,atheism leaves men to ,sense1 to ,philosophy1 to ,laws1 to ,reputation1 all which may be guides to moral ,virtue1 tho' ,religion were not3 but ,superstition dismounts all these1 and erects an absolute ,monarchy in the ,minds of ,men4 ,therefore1 ,atheism did never perturb ,states2 but ,superstition hath been the confusion of many4 ,the causes of ,superstition are pleasing and sensual rights1 and ,ceremonies2 ,excess of ,pharisaical and outside holiness1 ,reverence to ,traditions and the stratagems of ,prelates for their own ,ambition and ,lucre4--,lord ,bacon4 ,,contents #a4 ,,apologue #b4 ,what is ,theology8 #c4 ,what is ,theology8 #d4 ,man is not born with any ideas of ,religion #e4 ,it is not necessary to believe in a ,god #f4 ,religion is founded on credulity #g4 ,all religion is an absurdity #h4 ,the idea of ,god is impossible #i4 ,on the ,origin of ,superstition #aj4 ,on the ,origin of all ,religion #aa4 ,religious fears expose men to become a prey to imposters #ab4 ,religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous #ac4 ,religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous #ad4 ,no ,religion1 if not ages of ,stupidity and ,barbarism #ae4 ,all ,religion was produced by the desire of domination #af4 ,what serves as a basis to ,religion is most uncertain #ag4 ,it is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a ,god #ah4 ,it is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a ,god #ai4 ,the existence of ,god is not proved #bj4 ,it explains nothing to say1 that ,god is a spirit #ba4 ,spirituality is an absurdity #bb4 ,whatever exists is derived from ,matter #bc4 ,what is the metaphysical ,god of modern ,theology8 #bd4 ,less unreasonable to adore the ,sun1 than adore a spiritual ,deity #be4 ,a spiritual ,deity is incapable of volition and action #bf4 ,what is ,god8 #bg4 ,some remarkable ,contradictions in ,theology #bh4 ,to adore ,god1 is to adore a fiction #bi4 ,atheism is authorised by the infinity of ,god #cj4 ,believing not safer than not believing in ,god #ca4 ,belief in ,god is a habit acquired in infancy #cb4 ,belief in ,god is a prejudice ov successive generations #cc4 ,on the ,origin of ,prejudices #cd4 ,on the effects of ,prejudices #ce4 ,theology must be instilled before the age of reason #cf4 ,the wonders of nature do not prove the existence of ,god #cg4 ,nature may be explained by natural causes #ch4 ,nature may be explained by natural causes #ci4 ,the world has never been created3 ,matter moves of itself #dj4 ,the world has never been created3 ,matter moves of itself #da4 ,motion is essential to ,matter3 no ,spiritual ,mover #db4 ,the existence of ,man does not prove the existence of ,god #dc4 ,neither ,man nor the ,universe are the effects of chance #dd4 ,order of the ,universe does not prove the existence of a ,god #de4 ,order of the ,universe does not prove the existence of a ,god #df4 ,absurd to adore a divine intelligence #dg4 ,qualities given ,god contrary to the ,essence attributed to him #dh4 ,qualities given ,god contrary to the ,essence attributed to him #di4 ,absurd to say that the human race is the object of the ,universe #ej4 ,god is not made for ,man1 nor ,man for ,god #ea4 ,untrue that the object of the ,universe was to render ,man happy #eb4 ,what is called ,providence is a word without meaning #ec4 ,this pretended ,providence is the enemy of ,man #ed4 ,the world is not governed by an intelligent being #ee4 ,god cannot be considered immutable #ef4 ,good and evil are the necessary effects of natural causes #eg4 ,the consolations of ,theology and paradise are imaginary #eh4 ,another romantic reverie #ei4 ,vain that ,theology attempts to clear its ,god from human defects #fj4 ,impossible to believe ,god is of infinite goodness and power #fa4 ,impossible to believe ,god is of infinite goodness and power #fb4 ,theology's ,god a monster of absurdity and injustice #fc4 ,all ,religion inspires contemptible fears #fd4 ,religion1 the same as the most somber and servile ,superstition #fe4 ,the love of ,god is impossible #ff4 ,an eternally tormenting ,god is a most detestable being #fg4 ,theology is a tissue of palpable contradictions #fh4 ,the pretended works of ,god do not prove ,divine ,perfections #fi4 ,the perfection of ,god and the pretended creation of angels #gj4 ,theology preaches ,omnipotence of its ,god1 yet makes impotent #ga4 ,per all religious systems1 ,god is capricious and foolish #gb4 ,it is absurd to say that ,evil does not proceed from ,god #gc4 ,the foreknowledge of ,god proves his cruelty #gd4 ,absurdity of the stories concerning ,original ,sin1 and ,satan #ge4 ,the ,devil1 like ,religion1 was invented to enrich the priests #gf4 ,god has no right to punish man #gg4 ,it is absurd to say1 that the conduct of ,god a mystery #gh4 ,ought we look for consolation1 from the author of our misery8 #gi4 ,god who punishes the faults which he might have prevented #hj4 ,what is called ,free ,will is an absurdity #ha4 ,but we must not conclude that ,society has no right to punish #hb4 ,refutation of the arguments in favour of ,free ,will #hc4 ,refutation of the arguments in favour of ,free ,will #hd4 ,god1 if there were a ,god1 would not be free #he4 ,according to ,theology1 man is not free a single instant #hf4 ,there is no evil1 and no sin1 but must be attributed to ,god #hg4 ,the prayers prove dissatisfaction of the divine will #hh4 ,absurd to imagine repair of misfortune in another world #hi4 ,theology justifies the evil permitted by its ,god #ij4 ,jehovah1 exterminations prove an unjust and barbarous ,god #ia4 ,is ,god a generous1 equitable1 and tender father8 #ib4 ,man's life1 deposes against goodness of a pretended ,god #ic4 ,we owe no gratitude to what is called ,providence #id4 ,it is folly to suppose that ,man is the favourite of ,god #ie4 ,a comparison between ,man and brutes #if4 ,there are no animals so detestable as ,tyrants #ig4 ,a refutation of the excellence of ,man #ih4 ,an oriental ,tale #ii4 ,it is madness to see nothing but the goodness of ,god #ajj4 ,what is the ,soul8 #aja4 ,the existence of a ,soul is an absurd supposition #ajb4 ,it is evident that ,man dies in toto #ajc4 ,incontestible arguments against the ,spirituality of the ,soul #ajd4 ,on the absurdity of the supernatural causes #aje4 ,it is false that ,materialism degrades #ajf4 ,it is false that ,materialism degrades #ajg4 ,idea of future life only useful to priest's trade #ajh4 ,it is false that the idea of a future life is consoling #aji4 ,all religious principles are derived from the imagination #aaj4 ,religion a system to reconciles contradictions by mysteries #aaa4 ,absurdity of all ,mysteries1 invented for the interests of ,priests #aab1 ,absurdity of all ,mysteries1 invented for the interests of ,priests #aac4 ,absurdity of all ,mysteries1 invented for the interests of ,priests #aad4 ,an universal ,god ought to have revealed an universal ,religion #aae4 ,religion is unnecessary1 as it is unintelligible #aaf4 ,all ,religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds #aag4 ,opinion of a famous ,theologian #aah4 ,the ,god of the ,deists is not less contradictory #aai4 ,aged belief in a ,deity does not prove the existence of ,god #abj4 ,all ,gods are savage3 all ,religions are monuments of ignorance #aba4 ,all religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism #abb4 ,the more a religion is ancient and general1 the more suspect #abc4 ,scepticism in religious matters from very superficial study #abd4 ,revelations examined #abe4 ,where is the proof that ,god ever shewed himself or spoke to ,men #abf4 ,there is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed #abg4 ,strange that ,god spoke differently to different sects #abh4 ,obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles #abi4 ,absurdity of all miracles #acj4 ,refutation of the reasoning of ,pascal on miracles #aca4 ,every new revelation is necessarily false #acb4 ,blood of martyrs testifies against the truth of miracles #acc4 ,fanaticism of martyrs1 and the interested zeal of missionaries #acd4 ,theology makes its ,god an enemy to ,reason and ,common ,sense #ace4 ,faith irreconcilable with ,reason2 and ,reason preferable to ,faith #acf4 ,to what absurd and ridiculous sophisms the religious are reduced #acg4 ,ought a man to believe1 on the assurance of another man #ach4 ,faith can take root only in feeble1 ignorant1 or slothful minds #aci4 ,that one ,religion has greater pretensions to truth an absurdity #adj4 ,religion is unnecessary to ,morality #ada4 ,religion the weakest barrier that can be opposed to the passions #adb4 ,honour is a more salutary and powerful bond than ,religion #adc4 ,religion does not restrain the passions of kings #add4 ,origin of the divine right of kings #ade4 ,religion is fatal to political ameliorations #adf4 ,christianity preaching implicit obedience to despotism #adg4 ,one object of religious principles3 eternize the tyranny of kings #adh4 ,fatal it is to persuade kings they are responsible to ,god alone #adi4 ,a devout king is the scourge of his kingdom #aej4 ,tyranny finds ,religion a weak obstacle to the despair of the people #aea4 ,religion favours the wickedness of princes #aeb4 ,what is an enlightened ,sovereign8 #aec4 ,of the prevailing passions and crimes of the priesthood #aed4 ,the quackery of priests #aee4 ,religion has corrupted ,morality1 and produced innumerable evils #aef4 ,every ,religion is intolerant #aeg4 ,the evils of a state ,religion #aeh4 ,religion legitimates and authorizes crime #aei4 ,the argument1 that evils attributed to ,religion are faults of men #afj4 ,religion is incompatible with ,morality #afa4 ,the ,morality of the ,gospel is impracticable #afb4 ,a society of ,saints would be impossible #afc4 ,human nature is not depraved #afd4 ,concerning the effects of ,jesus ,christ's mission #afe4 ,the remission of sins was invented for the interest of priests #aff4 ,who fear ,god8 #afg4 ,hell is an absurd invention #afh4 ,the bad foundation of religious morals #afi4 ,christian ,charity1 as preached and practised by ,theologians666 #agj4 ,confession1 priestcraft's gold mine #aga4 ,supposition of the existence of a ,god unnecessary to ,morality #agb4 ,supernatural ,morality are fatal to the public welfare #agc4 ,the union of ,church and ,state is a calamity #agd4 ,national ,religions are ruinous #age4 ,religion paralyses ,morality #agf4 ,fatal consequences of ,devotion #agg4 ,the idea of a future life is not consoling to man #agh4 ,an ,atheist is fully as conscientious as a religious man #agi4 ,an ,atheistical king far preferable to a religious king #ahj4 ,philosophy produces ,morality #aha4 ,religious opinions have little influence upon conduct #ahb4 ,reason leads man to ,atheism #ahc4 ,fear alone makes ,theists #ahd4 ,can we1 and ought we1 to love ,god8 #ahe4 ,god and ,religion are proved to be absurdities #ahf4 ,the existence of ,god1 has not yet been demonstrated #ahg4 ,priests are more actuated by self-interest1 than unbelievers #ahh4 ,presumption1 and badness1 more in priests1 than in ,atheists #ahi4 ,prejudices last but for a time #aij4 ,what if priests the apostles of reason #aia4 ,if ,philosophy were substituted for ,religion6 #aib4 ,recantation of an unbeliever at the point of death proves nothing #aic4 ,it is not true that ,atheism breaks the bonds of society #aid4 ,refutation of the opinion1 that ,religion necessary for the vulgar #aie4 ,logical systems are not adapted to the capacity of the vulgar #aif4 ,on the futility and danger of ,theology #aig4 ,on the evils produced by implicit faith #aih4 ,on the evils produced by implicit faith #aii4 ,all ,religions were established by impostors1 in days of ignorance #bjj4 ,all ,religions borrow from one another ridiculous ceremonies #bja4 ,theology has always diverted philosophy from its right path #bjb4 ,theology explains nothing #bjc4 ,theology has always fettered ,morality1 and retarded progress #bjd4 ,theology has always fettered ,morality1 and retarded progress #bje4 ,religion is an extravagance and a calamity #bjf4 ,religion prevents us from seeing the true causes of misfortunes ,,publisher',s ,,note ,the chief design in reprinting this translation1 is to preserve the strongest atheistical work for present and future generations of ,english ,freethinkers4 ,the real author was1 unquestionably1 ,paul ,thyry2 ,baron ,d',holbach1 and not ,john ,meslier1 to whom this work has been wrongly attributed1 under the title of ,le ,bon ,sens 7,common ,sense74 ,in #aggj1 ,baron ,d',holbach published his masterpiece1 ,systeme de la ,nature1 which for a long time passed as the posthumous work of ,m4 de ,mirabaud4 ,that text-book of ,atheistical ,philosophy caused a great sensation1 and two years later1 #aggb1 the ,baron published this excellent abridgment of it1 freed from arbitrary ideas2 and by its clearness of expression1 facility1 and precision of style1 rendered it most suitable for the average student4 ,le ,bon ,sens was privately printed in ,amsterdam1 and the author's name was kept a profound secret2 hence1 ,baron ,d',holbach escaped persecution4 ,,the ,,author',s ,,preface ,when we examine the opinions of men1 we find that nothing is more uncommon1 than common sense2 or1 in other words1 they lack judgment to discover plain truths1 or to reject absurdities1 and palpable contradictions4 ,we have an example of this in ,theology1 a system revered in all countries by a great number of men2 an object regarded by them as most important1 and indispensable to happiness4 ,an examination of the principles upon which this pretended system is founded1 forces us to acknowledge1 that these principles are only suppositions1 imagined by ignorance1 propagated by enthusiasm or knavery1 adopted by timid credulity1 preserved by custom which never reasons1 and revered solely because not understood4 ,in a word1 whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions1 and will bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to most subjects1 will easily perceive that ,religion is a mere castle in the air4 ,theology is ignorance of natural causes2 a tissue of fallacies and contradictions4 ,in every country1 it presents romances void of probability1 the hero of which is composed of impossible qualities4 ,his name1 exciting fear in all minds1 is only a vague word1 to which1 men affix ideas or qualities1 which are either contradicted by facts1 or inconsistent4 ,notions of this being1 or rather1 the word by which he is designated1 would be a matter of indifference1 if it did not cause innumerable ravages in the world4 ,but men1 prepossessed with the opinion that this phantom is a reality of the greatest interest1 instead of concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility1 that they are not bound to regard it1 infer on the contrary1 that they must contemplate it1 without ceasing1 and never lose sight of it4 ,their invincible ignorance1 upon this subject1 irritates their curiosity2 instead of putting them upon guard against their imagination1 this ignorance renders them decisive1 dogmatic1 imperious1 and even exasperates them against all1 who oppose doubts to the reveries which they have begotten4 ,what perplexity arises1 when it is required to solve an insolvable problem2 unceasing meditation upon an object1 impossible to understand1 but in which however he thinks himself much concerned1 cannot but excite man1 and produce a fever in his brain4 ,let interest1 vanity1 and ambition1 co-operate ever so little with this unfortunate turn of mind1 and society must necessarily be disturbed4 ,this is the reason that so many nations have often been the scene of extravagances of senseless visionaries1 who1 believing their empty speculations to be eternal truths1 and publishing them as such1 have kindled the zeal of princes and their subjects1 and made them take up arms for opinions1 represented to them as essential to the glory of the ,deity4 ,in all parts of our globe1 fanatics have cut each other's throats1 publicly burnt each other1 committed without a scruple and even as a duty1 the greatest crimes1 and shed torrents of blood4 ,for what8 ,to strengthen1 support1 or propagate the impertinent conjectures of some enthusiasts1 or to give validity to the cheats of impostors1 in the name of a being1 who exists only in their imagination1 and who has made himself known only by the ravages1 disputes1 and follies1 he has caused4 ,savage and furious nations1 perpetually at war1 adore1 under divers names1 some ,god1 conformable to their ideas1 that is to say1 cruel1 carnivorous1 selfish1 blood-thirsty4 ,we find1 in all the religions1 a ,god of armies1 a jealous ,god1 an avenging ,god1 a destroying ,god1 a ,god1 who is pleased with carnage1 and whom his worshippers consider it a duty to serve4 ,lambs1 bulls1 children1 men1 and women1 are sacrificed to him4 ,zealous servants of this barbarous ,god think themselves obliged even to offer up themselves as a sacrifice to him4 ,madmen may everywhere be seen1 who1 after meditating upon their terrible ,god1 imagine that to please him they must inflict on themselves1 the most exquisite torments4 ,the gloomy ideas formed of the deity1 far from consoling them1 have every where disquieted their minds1 and prejudiced follies destructive to happiness4 ,how could the human mind progress1 while tormented with frightful phantoms1 and guided by men1 interested in perpetuating its ignorance and fears8 ,man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity3 he has been taught stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was supposed to depend4 ,occupied solely by his fears1 and by unintelligible reveries1 he has always been at the mercy of priests1 who have reserved to themselves the right of thinking for him1 and of directing his actions4 ,thus1 man has remained a slave without courage1 fearing to reason1 and unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth1 in which he has been wandering4 ,he believes himself forced under the yoke of his gods1 known to him only by the fabulous accounts given by his ministers1 who1 after binding each unhappy mortal in the chains of prejudice1 remain his masters1 or else abandon him defenceless to the absolute power of tyrants1 no less terrible than the gods1 of whom they are the representatives4 ,oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power1 it has been impossible for the people to be happy4 ,religion became sacred1 and men have had no other ,morality1 than what their legislators and priests brought from the unknown regions of heaven4 ,the human mind1 confused by theological opinions1 ceased to know its own powers1 mistrusted experience1 feared truth and disdained reason1 in order to follow authority4 ,man has been a mere machine in the hands of tyrants and priests4 ,always treated as a slave1 man has contracted the vices of slavery4 ,such are the true causes of the corruption of morals4 ,ignorance and servitude are calculated to make men wicked and unhappy4 ,knowledge1 ,reason1 and ,liberty1 can alone reform and make men happier4 ,but every thing conspires to blind them1 and to confirm their errors4 ,priests cheat them1 tyrants corrupt and enslave them4 ,tyranny ever was1 and ever will be1 the true cause of man's depravity1 and also of his calamities4 ,almost always fascinated by religious fiction1 poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes of their misery2 but attribute their vices to the imperfection of their natures1 and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods4 ,they offer to heaven vows1 sacrifices1 and presents1 to obtain the end of sufferings1 which in reality1 are attributable only to the negligence1 ignorance1 and perversity of their guides1 to the folly of their customs1 and above all1 to the general want of knowledge4 ,let men's minds be filled with true ideas2 let their reason be cultivated2 and there will be no need of opposing to the passions1 such a feeble barrier1 as the fear of gods4 ,men will be good1 when they are well instructed2 and when they are despised for evil1 or justly rewarded for good1 which they do to their fellow citizens4 ,in vain should we attempt to cure men of their vices1 unless we begin by curing them of their prejudices4 ,it is only by showing them the truth1 that they will perceive their true interests1 and the real motives that ought to incline them to do good4 ,instructors have long enough fixed men's eyes upon heaven2 let them now turn them upon earth4 ,an incomprehensible theology1 ridiculous fables1 impenetrable mysteries1 puerile ceremonies1 are to be no longer endured4 ,let the human mind apply itself to what is natural1 to intelligible objects1 truth1 and useful knowledge4 ,does it not suffice to annihilate religious prejudice1 to shew1 that what is inconceivable to man1 cannot be good for him8 ,does it require any thing1 but plain common sense1 to perceive1 that a being1 incompatible with the most evident notions--that a cause continually opposed to the effects which we attribute to it--that a being1 of whom we can say nothing1 without falling into contradiction--that a being1 who1 far from explaining the enigmas of the universe1 only makes them more inexplicable--that a being1 whom for so many ages men have vainly addressed to obtain their happiness1 and the end of sufferings--does it require1 ,i say1 any thing but plain1 common sense1 to perceive--that the idea of such a being is an idea without model1 and that he himself is merely a phantom of the imagination8 ,is any thing necessary but common sense to perceive1 at least1 that it is folly and madness for men to hate and damn one another about unintelligible opinions concerning a being of this kind8 ,in short1 does not every thing prove1 that ,morality and ,virtue are totally incompatible with the notions of a ,god1 whom his ministers and interpreters have described1 in every country1 as the most capricious1 unjust1 and cruel of tyrants1 whose pretended will1 however1 must serve as law and rule the inhabitants of the earth8 ,to discover the true principles of ,morality1 men have no need of theology1 of revelation1 or of gods3 ,they have need only of common sense4 ,they have only to commune with themselves1 to reflect upon their own nature1 to consider the objects of society1 and of the individuals1 who compose it2 and they will easily perceive1 that virtue is advantageous1 and vice disadvantageous to themselves4 ,let us persuade men to be just1 beneficent1 moderate1 sociable2 not because such conduct is demanded by the gods1 but1 because it is pleasant to men4 ,let us advise them to abstain from vice and crime2 not because they will be punished in another world1 but because they will suffer for it in this4--,these are1 says ,montesquieu1 means to prevent crimes--these are punishments2 these reform manners--these are good examples4 ,the way of truth is straight2 that of imposture is crooked and dark4 ,truth1 ever necessary to man1 must necessarily be felt by all upright minds2 the lessons of reason are to be followed by all honest men4 ,men are unhappy1 only because they are ignorant2 they are ignorant1 only because every thing conspires to prevent their being enlightened2 they are wicked only because their reason is not sufficiently developed4 ,by what fatality then1 have the first founders of all sects given to their gods ferocious characters1 at which nature revolts8 ,can we imagine a conduct more abominable1 than that which ,moses tells us his ,god showed towards the ,egyptians1 where that assassin proceeds boldly to declare1 in the name and by the order of his ,god1 that ,egypt shall be afflicted with the greatest calamities1 that can happen to man8 ,of all the different ideas1 which they give us of a supreme being1 of a ,god1 creator and preserver of mankind1 there are none more horrible1 than those of the impostors1 who represented themselves as inspired by a divine spirit1 and ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,why1 ,o theologians6 do you presume to inquire into the impenetrable mysteries of a being1 whom you consider inconceivable to the human mind8 ,you are the blasphemers1 when you imagine that a being1 perfect according to you1 could be guilty of such cruelty towards creatures whom he has made out of nothing4 ,confess1 your ignorance of a creating ,god2 and cease meddling with mysteries1 which are repugnant to ,common ,sense4 ,,detailed ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,given ,,in ,,the ,,french ,,edition ,section #a4 ,,apologue #b1 #c4 ,what is ,theology8 #d4 ,man is not born with any ideas of ,religion #e4 ,it is not necessary to believe in a ,god #f4 ,religion is founded on credulity #g4 ,all religion is an absurdity #h4 ,the idea of ,god is impossible #i4 ,on the ,origin of ,superstition #aj4 ,on the ,origin of all ,religion #aa4 ,religious fears expose men to become a prey to imposters #ab1 #ac4 ,religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous #ad4 ,there would never have been any ,religion1 if there had not been ages of ,stupidity and ,barbarism #ae4 ,all ,religion was produced by the desire of domination #af4 ,what serves as a basis to ,religion is most uncertain #ag1 #ah4 ,it is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a ,god #ai4 ,the existence of ,god is not proved #bj4 ,it explains nothing to say1 that ,god is a spirit #ba4 ,spirituality is an absurdity #bb4 ,whatever exists is derived from ,matter #bc4 ,what is the metaphysical ,god of modern ,theology8 #bd4 ,it would be less unreasonable to adore the ,sun1 than to adore a spiritual ,deity #be4 ,a spiritual ,deity is incapable of volition and action #bf4 ,what is ,god8 #bg4 ,some remarkable ,contradictions in ,theology #bh4 ,to adore ,god1 is to adore a fiction #bi4 ,atheism is authorised by the infinity of ,god1 and the impossibility of knowing the ,divine essence #cj4 ,believing in ,god is neither safer nor less criminal than not believing in him #ca4 ,belief in ,god is a habit acquired in infancy #cb4 ,belief in ,god is a prejudice established by successive generations #cc4 ,on the ,origin of ,prejudices #cd4 ,on the effects of ,prejudices #ce4 ,the ,religious principles of modern ,theology could not be believed if they were not instilled into the mind before the age of reason #cf4 ,the wonders of nature do not prove the existence of ,god #cg1 #ch4 ,nature may be explained by natural causes #ci1 #dj4 ,the world has never been created3 ,matter moves of itself #da4 ,additional proofs that motion is essential to ,matter1 and that consequently it is unnecessary to imagine a ,spiritual ,mover #db4 ,the existence of ,man does not prove the existence of ,god #dc4 ,nevertheless1 neither ,man nor the ,universe are the effects of chance #dd1 #de4 ,the order of the ,universe does not prove the existence of a ,god #df4 ,a ,spirit cannot be intelligent it is absurd to adore a divine intelligence #dg1 #dh4 ,all the qualities1 which ,theology gives to its ,god are contrary to the ,essence which is attributed to him #di4 ,it is absurd to say that the human race is the object and end of the formation of the ,universe #ej4 ,god is not made for ,man1 nor ,man for ,god #ea4 ,it is not true that the object of the formation of the ,universe was to render ,man happy #eb4 ,what is called ,providence is a word without meaning #ec4 ,this pretended ,providence is the enemy of ,man #ed4 ,the world is not governed by an intelligent being #ee4 ,god cannot be considered immutable #ef4 ,good and evil are the necessary effects of natural causes4 ,what is a ,god that cannot change any thing8 #eg4 ,the consolations of ,theology and the hope of paradise and of a future life1 are imaginary #eh4 ,another romantic reverie #ei4 ,it is in vain that ,theology attempts to clear its ,god from human defects3 either this ,god is not free1 or else he is more wicked than good #fj1 #fa4 ,it is impossible to believe that there exists a ,god of infinite goodness and power #fb4 ,theology makes its ,god a monster of absurdity1 injustice1 malice1 and atrocity #fc4 ,all ,religion inspires contemptible fears #fd4 ,there is no difference between ,religion1 and the most somber and servile ,superstition #fe4 ,to judge from the ideas which ,theology gives of the ,deity1 the love of ,god is impossible #ff4 ,an eternally tormenting ,god is a most detestable being #fg4 ,theology is a tissue of palpable contradictions #fh4 ,the pretended works of ,god do not prove ,divine ,perfections #fi4 ,the perfection of ,god is not rendered more evident by the pretended creation of angels #gj4 ,theology preaches the ,omnipotence of its ,god1 yet constantly makes him appear impotent #ga4 ,according to all religious systems1 ,god would be the most capricious and most foolish of beings #gb4 ,it is absurd to say that ,evil does not proceed from ,god #gc4 ,the foreknowledge attributed to ,god would give men a right to complain of his cruelty #gd4 ,absurdity of the theological stories concerning ,original ,sin1 and concerning ,satan #ge4 ,the ,devil1 like ,religion1 was invented to enrich the priests #gf4 ,if ,god has been unable to render human nature incapable of sin1 he has no right to punish man #gg4 ,it is absurd to say1 that the conduct of ,god ought to be a mystery for man #gh4 ,ought the unfortunate look for consolation1 to the sole author of their misery #gi4 ,a ,god1 who punishes the faults which he might have prevented1 is a mad tyrant1 who joins injustice to folly #hj4 ,what is called ,free ,will is an absurdity #ha4 ,but we must not conclude that ,society has no right to punish #hb1 #hc4 ,refutation of the arguments in favour of ,free ,will #hd4 ,god himself1 if there were a ,god1 would not be free3 hence the inutility of all ,religion #he4 ,according to the principles of ,theology1 man is not free a single instant #hf4 ,there is no evil1 no disorder1 and no sin1 but must be attributed to ,god3 consequently ,god has no right either to punish or recompence #hg4 ,the prayers offered to ,god sufficiently prove dissatisfaction of the divine will #hh4 ,it is the height of absurdity to imagine1 that the injuries and misfortunes1 endured in this world1 will be repaired in another world #hi4 ,theology justifies the evil and the wickedness1 permitted by its ,god1 only by attributing to him the principle1 that ,might makes ,right1 which is the violation of all ,right #ij4 ,the absurd doctrine of ,redemption1 and the frequent exterminations attributed to ,jehovah1 impress one with the idea of an unjust and barbarous ,god #ia4 ,can a being1 who has called us into existence merely to make us miserable1 be a generous1 equitable1 and tender father8 #ib4 ,man's life1 and all that occurs1 deposes against the liberty of ,man1 and against the justice and goodness of a pretended ,god #ic4 ,it is not true1 that we owe any gratitude to what is called ,providence #id4 ,it is folly to suppose that ,man is the king of nature1 the favourite of ,god1 and unique object of his labours #ie4 ,a comparison between ,man and brutes #if4 ,there are no animals so detestable as ,tyrants #ig4 ,a refutation of the excellence of ,man #ih4 ,an oriental ,tale #ii4 ,it is madness to see nothing but the goodness of ,god1 or to think that this universe is only made for ,man #ajj4 ,what is the ,soul8 #aja4 ,the existence of a ,soul is an absurd supposition2 and the existence of an immortal ,soul still more absurd #ajb4 ,it is evident that ,man dies in toto #ajc4 ,incontestible arguments against the ,spirituality of the ,soul #ajd4 ,on the absurdity of the supernatural causes1 to which ,theologians are constantly having recourse #aje1 #ajf4 ,it is false that ,materialism degrades #ajg4 ,the idea of a future life is only useful to those1 who trade on public credulity #ajh4 ,it is false that the idea of a future life is consoling #aji4 ,all religious principles are derived from the imagination4 ,god is a chimera2 and the qualities1 attributed to him1 reciprocally destroy one another #aaj4 ,religion is but a system imagined in order to reconcile contradictions by the aid of mysteries #aaa1 #aab1 #aac4 ,absurdity and inutility of all ,mysteries1 which were only invented for the interests of ,priests #aad4 ,an universal ,god ought to have revealed an universal ,religion #aae4 ,what proves1 that ,religion is unnecessary1 is1 that it is unintelligible #aaf4 ,all ,religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds1 all opposite to one another1 and all equally foolish #aag4 ,opinion of a famous ,theologian #aah4 ,the ,god of the ,deists is not less contradictory1 nor less chimerical than the ,god of the ,christians #aai4 ,it by no means proves the existence of ,god to say1 that1 in every age1 all nations have acknowledged some ,deity or other #abj4 ,all ,gods are of a savage origin3 all ,religions are monuments of the ignorance1 superstition1 and ferocity of former times3 modern ,religions are but ancient follies1 re-edited with additions and corrections #aba4 ,all religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism #abb4 ,the more a religious opinion is ancient and general1 the more it ought to be suspected #abc4 ,mere scepticism in religious matters1 can only be the effect of a very superficial examination #abd4 ,revelations examined #abe4 ,where is the proof that ,god ever shewed himself to ,men1 or ever spoke to them8 #abf4 ,there is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed #abg4 ,if ,god has spoken1 is it not strange that he should have spoken so differently to the different religious sects8 #abh4 ,obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles #abi4 ,absurdity of all miracles #acj4 ,refutation of the reasoning of ,pascal concerning the manner in which we must judge of miracles #aca4 ,every new revelation is necessarily false #acb4 ,the blood of martyrs testifies against the truth of miracles1 and against the divine origin attributed to ,christianity #acc4 ,the fanaticism of martyrs1 and the interested zeal of missionaries1 by no means prove the truth of ,religion #acd4 ,theology makes its ,god an enemy to ,reason and ,common ,sense #ace4 ,faith is irreconcilable with ,reason2 and ,reason is preferable to ,faith #acf4 ,to what absurd and ridiculous sophisms every one is reduced1 who would substitute ,faith for ,reason6 #acg4 ,ought a man to believe1 on the assurance of another man1 what is of the greatest importance to himself #ach4 ,faith can take root only in feeble1 ignorant1 or slothful minds #aci4 ,to teach1 that any one ,religion has greater pretensions to truth than another1 is an absurdity1 and cause of tumult #adj4 ,religion is unnecessary to ,morality #ada4 ,religion is the weakest barrier that can be opposed to the passions #adb4 ,honour is a more salutary and powerful bond than ,religion #adc4 ,religion does not restrain the passions of kings #add4 ,origin of the divine right of kings1 the most absurd1 ridiculous1 and odious1 of usurpations #ade4 ,religion is fatal to political ameliorations3 it makes despots licentious and wicked1 and their subjects abject and miserable #adf4 ,christianity has propagated itself by preaching implicit obedience to despotism #adg4 ,one object of religious principles is to eternize the tyranny of kings #adh4 ,how fatal it is to persuade kings that they are responsible for their actions to ,god alone #adi4 ,a devout king is the scourge of his kingdom #aej4 ,tyranny sometimes finds the aegis of ,religion a weak obstacle to the despair of the people #aea4 ,religion favours the wickedness of princes by delivering them from fear and remorse #aeb4 ,what is an enlightened ,sovereign8 #aec4 ,of the prevailing passions and crimes of the priesthood #aed4 ,the quackery of priests #aee4 ,religion has corrupted ,morality1 and produced innumerable evils #aef4 ,every ,religion is intolerant #aeg4 ,the evils of a state ,religion #aeh4 ,religion legitimates and authorizes crime #aei4 ,refutation of the argument1 that the evils attributed to ,religion are but the bad effects of human passions #afj4 ,religion is incompatible with ,morality #afa4 ,the ,morality of the ,gospel is impracticable #afb4 ,a society of ,saints would be impossible #afc4 ,human nature is not depraved #afd4 ,concerning the effects of ,jesus ,christ's mission #afe4 ,the dogma of the remission of sins was invented for the interest of priests #aff4 ,who fear ,god8 #afg4 ,hell is an absurd invention #afh4 ,the bad foundation of religious morals #afi4 ,christian ,charity1 as preached and practised by ,theologians666 #agj4 ,confession1 priestcraft's gold mine1 and the destruction of the true principles of ,morality #aga4 ,the supposition of the existence of a ,god is by no means necessary to ,morality #agb4 ,religion and its supernatural ,morality are fatal to the public welfare #agc4 ,the union of ,church and ,state is a calamity #agd4 ,national ,religions are ruinous #age4 ,religion paralyses ,morality #agf4 ,fatal consequences of ,devotion #agg4 ,the idea of a future life is not consoling to man #agh4 ,an ,atheist is fully as conscientious as a religious man1 and has better motives for doing good #agi4 ,an ,atheistical king would be far preferable to a religious king #ahj4 ,philosophy produces ,morality #aha4 ,religious opinions have little influence upon conduct #ahb4 ,reason leads man to ,atheism #ahc4 ,fear alone makes ,theists #ahd4 ,can we1 and ought we1 to love ,god8 #ahe4 ,god and ,religion are proved to be absurdities by the different ideas formed of them #ahf4 ,the existence of ,god1 which is the basis of ,religion1 has not yet been demonstrated #ahg4 ,priests are more actuated by self-interest1 than unbelievers #ahh4 ,pride1 presumption1 and badness1 are more often found in priests1 than in ,atheists #ahi4 ,prejudices last but for a time3 no power is durable which is not founded upon truth #aij4 ,what an honourable power ministers of the ,gods would obtain1 if they became the apostles of reason and the defenders of liberty6 #aia4 ,what a glorious and happy revolution it would be for the world1 if ,philosophy were substituted for ,religion6 #aib4 ,the recantation of an unbeliever at the point of death proves nothing against the reasonableness of unbelief #aic4 ,it is not true that ,atheism breaks the bonds of society #aid4 ,refutation of the often repeated opinion1 that ,religion is necessary for the vulgar #aie4 ,logical and argumentative systems are not adapted to the capacity of the vulgar #aif4 ,on the futility and danger of ,theology #aig1 #aih4 ,on the evils produced by implicit faith #aii4 ,history teaches us1 that all ,religions were established by impostors1 in days of ignorance #bjj4 ,all ,religions1 ancient or modern1 have borrowed from one another ridiculous ceremonies #bja4 ,theology has always diverted philosophy from its right path #bjb4 ,theology explains nothing #bjc1 #bjd4 ,theology has always fettered ,morality1 and retarded progress #bje4 ,it cannot be too often repeated and proved1 that ,religion is an extravagance and a calamity #bjf4 ,religion prevents us from seeing the true causes of misfortunes ,,good ,,sense ,,without ,,god ,,apologue #a4 ,there is a vast empire1 governed by a monarch1 whose strange conduct is to confound the minds of his subjects4 ,he wishes to be known1 loved1 respected1 obeyed2 but never shows himself to his subjects1 and everything conspires to render uncertain the ideas formed of his character4 ,the people1 subjected to his power1 have1 of the character and laws of their invisible sovereign1 such ideas only1 as his ministers give them4 ,they1 however1 confess1 that they have no idea of their master2 that his ways are impenetrable2 his views and nature totally incomprehensible4 ,these ministers1 likewise1 disagree upon the commands which they pretend have been issued by the sovereign1 whose servants they call themselves4 ,they defame one another1 and mutually treat each other as impostors and false teachers4 ,the decrees and ordinances1 they take upon themselves to promulgate1 are obscure2 they are enigmas1 little calculated to be understood1 or even divined1 by the subjects1 for whose instruction they were intended4 ,the laws of the concealed monarch require interpreters2 but the interpreters are always disputing upon the true manner of understanding them4 ,besides1 they are not consistent with themselves2 all they relate of their concealed prince is only a string of contradictions4 ,they utter concerning him not a single word that does not immediately confute itself4 ,they call him supremely good2 yet many complain of his decrees4 ,they suppose him infinitely wise2 and under his administration everything appears to contradict reason4 ,they extol his justice2 and the best of his subjects are generally the least favoured4 ,they assert1 he sees everything2 yet his presence avails nothing4 ,he is1 say they1 the friend of order2 yet throughout his dominions1 all is in confusion and disorder4 ,he makes all for himself2 and the events seldom answer his designs4 ,he foresees everything2 but cannot prevent anything4 ,he impatiently suffers offence1 yet gives everyone the power of offending him4 ,men admire the wisdom and perfection of his works2 yet his works1 full of imperfection1 are of short duration4 ,he is continually doing and undoing2 repairing what he has made2 but is never pleased with his work4 ,in all his undertakings1 he proposes only his own glory2 yet is never glorified4 ,his only end is the happiness of his subjects2 and his subjects1 for the most part want necessaries4 ,those1 whom he seems to favour are generally least satisfied with their fate2 almost all appear in perpetual revolt against a master1 whose greatness they never cease to admire1 whose wisdom to extol1 whose goodness to adore1 whose justice to fear1 and whose laws to reverence1 though never obeyed6 ,this ,,empire is the ,,world2 this ,,monarch ,,god2 his ,,ministers are the ,,priests2 his ,,subjects ,,mankind4 #b4 ,there is a science that has for its object only things incomprehensible4 ,contrary to all other sciences1 it treats only of what cannot fall under our senses4 ,hobbes calls it the kingdom of darkness4 ,it is a country1 where every thing is governed by laws1 contrary to those which mankind are permitted to know in the world they inhabit4 ,in this marvellous region1 light is only darkness2 evidence is doubtful or false2 impossibilities are credible3 reason is a deceitful guide2 and good sense becomes madness4 ,this science is called theology1 and this theology is a continual insult to the reason of man4 #c4 ,by the magical power of ifs1 buts1 perhaps's1 what do we know1 etc41 heaped together1 a shapeless and unconnected system is formed1 perplexing mankind1 by obliterating from their minds1 the most clear ideas and rendering uncertain truths most evident4 ,by reason of this systematic confusion1 nature is an enigma2 the visible world has disappeared1 to give place to regions invisible2 reason is compelled to yield to imagination1 who leads to the country of her self-invented chimeras4 #d4 ,the principles of every religion are founded upon the idea of a ,,god4 ,now1 it is impossible to have true ideas of a being1 who acts upon none of our senses4 ,all our ideas are representations of sensible objects4 ,what then can represent to us the idea of ,god1 which is evidently an idea without an object8 ,is not such an idea as impossible1 as an effect without a cause8 ,can an idea without an archetype be anything1 but a chimera8 ,there are1 however1 divines1 who assure us that the idea of ,god is innate2 or that we have this idea in our mother's womb4 ,every principle is the result of reason2 all reason is the effect of experience2 experience is acquired only by the exercise of our senses3 therefore1 religious principles are not founded upon reason1 and are not innate4 #e4 ,every system of religion can be founded only upon the nature of ,god and man2 and upon the relations1 which subsist between them4 ,but to judge of the reality of those relations1 we must have some idea of the divine nature4 ,now1 the world exclaims1 the divine nature is incomprehensible to man2 yet ceases not to assign attributes to this incomprehensible ,god1 and to assure us1 that it is our indispensable duty to find out that ,god1 whom it is impossible to comprehend4 ,the most important concern of man is what he can least comprehend4 ,if ,god is incomprehensible to man1 it would seem reasonable never to think of him2 but religion maintains1 man cannot with impunity cease a moment to think 7or rather dream7 of his ,god4 #f4 ,we are told1 that divine qualities are not of a nature to be comprehended by finite minds4 ,the natural consequence must be1 that divine qualities are not made to occupy finite minds4 ,but religion tells us1 that the poor finite mind of man ought never to lose sight of an inconceivable being1 whose qualities he can never comprehend4 ,thus1 we see1 religion is the art of turning the attention of mankind upon subjects they can never comprehend4 #g4 ,religion unites man with ,god1 or forms a communication between them2 yet do they not say1 ,god is infinite8 ,if ,god be infinite1 no finite being can have communication or relation with him4 ,where there is no relation1 there can be no union1 communication1 or duties4 ,if there be no duties between man and his ,god1 there is no religion for man4 ,thus1 in saying ,god is infinite1 you annihilate religion for man1 who is a finite being4 ,the idea of infinity is to us an idea without model1 without archetype1 without object4 #h4 ,if ,god be an infinite being1 there cannot be1 either in the present or future world1 any relative proportion between man and his ,god4 ,thus1 the idea of ,god can never enter the human mind4 ,in supposition of a life1 in which man would be much more enlightened1 than in this1 the idea of the infinity of ,god would ever remain the same distance from his finite mind4 ,thus the idea of ,god will be no more clear in the future1 than in the present life4 ,thus1 intelligences1 superior to man1 can have no more complete ideas of ,god1 than man1 who has not the least conception of him in his present life4 #i4 ,how has it been possible to persuade reasonable beings1 that the thing1 most impossible to comprehend1 was most essential to them8 ,it is because they have been greatly terrified2 because1 when they fear1 they cease to reason2 because1 they have been taught to mistrust their own understanding2 because1 when the brain is troubled1 they believe every thing1 and examine nothing4 #aj4 ,ignorance and fear are the two hinges of all religion4 ,the uncertainty in which man finds himself in relation to his ,god1 is precisely the motive that attaches him to his religion4 ,man is fearful in the dark--in moral1 as well as physical darkness4 ,his fear becomes habitual1 and habit makes it natural2 he would think that he wanted something1 if he had nothing to fear4 #aa4 ,he1 who from infancy has habituated himself to tremble when he hears pronounced certain words1 requires those words and needs to tremble4 ,he is therefore more disposed to listen to one1 who entertains him in his fears1 than to one1 who dissuades him from them4 ,the superstitious man wishes to fear2 his imagination demands it2 one might say1 that he fears nothing so much1 as to have nothing to fear4 ,men are imaginary invalids1 whose weakness empirics are interested to encourage1 in order to have sale for their drugs4 ,they listen rather to the physician1 who prescribes a variety of remedies1 than to him1 who recommends good regimen1 and leaves nature to herself4 #ab4 ,if religion were more clear1 it would have less charms for the ignorant1 who are pleased only with obscurity1 terrors1 fables1 prodigies1 and things incredible4 ,romances1 silly stories1 and the tales of ghosts and wizards1 are more pleasing to vulgar minds than true histories4 #ac4 ,in point of religion1 men are only great children4 ,the more a religion is absurd and filled with wonders1 the greater ascendancy it acquires over them4 ,the devout man thinks himself obliged to place no bounds to his credulity2 the more things are inconceivable1 they appear to him divine2 the more they are incredible1 the greater merit1 he imagines1 there is in believing them4 #ad4 ,the origin of religious opinions is generally dated from the time1 when savage nations were yet in infancy4 ,it was to gross1 ignorant1 and stupid people1 that the founders of religion have in all ages addressed themselves1 when they wished to give them their ,gods1 their mode of worship1 their mythology1 their marvellous and frightful fables4 ,these chimeras1 adopted without examination by parents1 are transmitted1 with more or less alteration1 to their children1 who seldom reason any more than their parents4 #ae4 ,the object of the first legislators was to govern the people2 and the easiest method to effect it was to terrify their minds1 and to prevent the exercise of reason4 ,they led them through winding bye-paths1 lest they might perceive the designs of their guides2 they forced them to fix their eyes in the air1 for fear they should look at their feet2 they amused them on the way with idle stories2 in a word1 they treated them as nurses do children1 who sing lullabies1 to put them to sleep1 and scold1 to make them quiet4 #af4 ,the existence of a ,god is the basis of all religion4 ,few appear to doubt his existence2 yet this fundamental article utterly embarrasses every mind that reasons4 ,the first question of every catechism has been1 and ever will be1 the most difficult to resolve4 7,in the year #agja1 the holy fathers of the oratory of ,vendome maintained in a thesis1 this proposition--that1 according to ,st4 ,thomas1 the existence of ,god is not1 and cannot be1 a subject of faith47 #ag4 ,can we imagine ourselves sincerely convinced of the existence of a being1 whose nature we know not2 who is inaccessible to all our senses2 whose attributes1 we are assured1 are incomprehensible to us8 ,to persuade me that a being exists or can exist1 ,i must be first told what that being is4 ,to induce me to believe the existence or the possibility of such a being1 it is necessary to tell me things concerning him that are not contradictory1 and do not destroy one another4 ,in short1 to fully convince me of the existence of that being1 it is necessary to tell me things that ,i can understand4 #ah4 ,a thing is impossible1 when it includes two ideas that mutually destroy one another1 and which can neither be conceived nor united in thought4 ,conviction can be founded only upon the constant testimony of our senses1 which alone give birth to our ideas1 and enable us to judge of their agreement or disagreement4 ,that1 which exists necessarily1 is that1 whose non-existence implies a contradiction4 ,these principles1 universally acknowledged1 become erroneous1 when applied to the existence of a ,god4 ,whatever has been hitherto said upon the subject1 is either unintelligible1 or perfect contradiction1 and must therefore appear absurd to every rational man4 #ai4 ,all human knowledge is more or less clear4 ,by what strange fatality have we never been able to elucidate the science of ,god8 ,the most civilized nations1 and among them the most profound thinkers1 are in this respect no more enlightened than the most savage tribes and ignorant peasants2 and1 examining the subject closely1 we shall find1 that1 by the speculations and subtle refinements of men1 the divine science has been only more and more obscured4 ,every religion has hitherto been founded only upon what is called1 in logic1 begging the question2 it takes things for granted1 and then proves1 by suppositions1 instead of principles4 #bj4 ,metaphysics teach us1 that ,god is a pure spirit4 ,but1 is modern theology superior to that of the savages8 ,the savages acknowledge a great spirit1 for the master of the world4 ,the savages1 like all ignorant people1 attribute to spirits all the effects1 of which their experience cannot discover the true causes4 ,ask a savage1 what works your watch8 ,he will answer1 it is a spirit4 ,ask the divines1 what moves the universe8 ,they answer1 it is a spirit4 #ba4 ,the savage1 when he speaks of a spirit1 affixes1 at least1 some idea to the word2 he means thereby an agent1 like the air1 the breeze1 the breath1 that invisibly produces discernible effects4 ,by subtilizing every thing1 the modern theologian becomes as unintelligible to himself as to others4 ,ask him1 what he understands by a spirit8 ,he will answer you1 that it is an unknown substance1 perfectly simple1 that has no extension1 that has nothing common with matter4 ,indeed1 is there any one1 who can form the least idea of such a substance8 ,what then is a spirit1 to speak in the language of modern theology1 but the absence of an idea8 ,the idea of spirituality is an idea without model4 #bb4 ,is it not more natural and intelligible to draw universal existence from the matter1 whose existence is demonstrated by all the senses1 and whose effects we experience1 which we see act1 move1 communicate motion1 and incessantly generate1 than to attribute the formation of things to an unknown power1 to a spiritual being1 who cannot derive from his nature what he has not himself1 and who1 by his spiritual essence1 can create neither matter nor motion8 ,nothing is more evident1 than that the idea they endeavour to give us1 of the action of mind upon matter1 represents no object4 ,it is an idea without model4 #bc4 ,the material ,jupiter of the ancients could move1 compose1 destroy1 and create beings1 similar to himself2 but the ,god of modern theology is sterile4 ,he can neither occupy any place in space1 nor move matter1 nor form a visible world1 nor create men or gods4 ,the metaphysical ,god is fit only to produce confusion1 reveries1 follies1 and disputes4 #bd4 ,since a ,god was indispensably requisite to men1 why did they not worship the ,sun1 that visible ,god1 adored by so many nations8 ,what being had greater claim to the homage of men1 than the day-star1 who enlightens1 warms1 and vivifies all beings2 whose presence enlivens and regenerates nature1 whose absence seems to cast her into gloom and languor8 ,if any being announced to mankind1 power1 activity1 beneficence1 and duration1 it was certainly the ,sun1 whom they ought to have regarded as the parent of nature1 as the divinity4 ,at least1 they could not1 without folly1 dispute his existence1 or refuse to acknowledge his influence4 #be4 ,the theologian exclaims to us1 that ,god wants neither hands nor arms to act2 that he acts by his will4 ,but pray1 who or what is that ,god1 who has a will1 and what can be the subject of his divine will8 ,are the stories of witches1 ghosts1 wizards1 hobgoblins1 etc41 more absurd and difficult to believe than the magical or impossible action of mind upon matter8 ,when we admit such a ,god1 fables and reveries may claim belief4 ,theologians treat men as children1 whose simplicity makes them believe all the stories they hear4 #bf4 ,to shake the existence of ,god1 we need only to ask a theologian to speak of him4 ,as soon as he has said a word upon the subject1 the least reflection will convince us1 that his observations are totally incompatible with the essence he ascribes to his ,god4 ,what then is ,god8 ,it is an abstract word1 denoting the hidden power of nature2 or it is a mathematical point1 that has neither length1 breadth1 nor thickness4 ,david ,hume1 speaking of theologians1 has ingeniously observed1 that they have discovered the solution of the famous problem of ,archimedes--a point in the heavens1 whence they move the world4 #bg4 ,religion prostrates men before a being1 who1 without extension1 is infinite1 and fills all with his immensity2 a being1 all-powerful1 who never executes his will2 a being1 sovereignly good1 who creates only disquietudes2 a being1 the friend of order1 and in whose government all is in confusion and disorder4 ,what then1 can we imagine1 can be the ,god of theology8 #bh4 ,to avoid all embarrassment1 we are told1 that it is not necessary to know what ,god is2 that we must adore him2 that we are not permitted to extend our views to his attributes4 ,but1 before we know that we must adore a ,god1 must we not know certainly1 that he exists8 ,but1 how can we assure ourselves1 that he exists1 if we never examine whether the various qualities1 attributed to him1 do really exist and agree in him8 ,indeed1 to adore ,god1 is to adore only the fictions of one's own imagination1 or rather1 it is to adore nothing4 #bi4 ,in view of confounding things the more1 theologians have not declared what their ,god is2 they tell us only what he is not4 ,by means of negations and abstractions1 they think they have composed a real and perfect being4 ,mind is that1 which is not body4 ,an infinite being is a being1 who is not finite4 ,a perfect being is a being1 who is not imperfect4 ,indeed1 is there any one1 who can form real ideas of such a mass of absence of ideas8 ,that1 which excludes all idea1 can it be any thing but nothing8 ,to pretend1 that the divine attributes are beyond the reach of human conception1 is to grant1 that ,god is not made for man4 ,to assure us1 that1 in ,god1 all is infinite1 is to own that there can be nothing common to him and his creatures4 ,if there be nothing common to ,god and his creatures1 ,god is annihilated for man1 or1 at least1 rendered useless to him4 ,god1 they say1 has made man intelligent1 but he has not made him omniscient2 hence it is inferred1 that he has not been able to give him faculties sufficiently enlarged to know his divine essence4 ,in this case1 it is evident1 that ,god has not been able nor willing to be known by his creatures4 ,by what right then would ,god be angry with beings1 who were naturally incapable of knowing the divine essence8 ,god would be evidently the most unjust and capricious of tyrants1 if he should punish an ,atheist for not having known1 what1 by his nature1 it was impossible he should know4 #cj4 ,to the generality of men1 nothing renders an argument more convincing than fear4 ,it is therefore1 that theologians assure us1 we must take the safest part2 that nothing is so criminal as incredulity2 that ,god will punish without pity every one who has the temerity to doubt his existence2 that his severity is just1 since madness or perversity only can make us deny the existence of an enraged monarch1 who without mercy avenges himself on ,atheists4 ,if we coolly examine these threatenings1 we shall find1 they always suppose the thing in question4 ,they must first prove the existence of a ,god1 before they assure us1 it is safest to believe1 and horrible to doubt or deny his existence4 ,they must then prove1 that it is possible and consistent1 that a just ,god cruelly punishes men for having been in a state of madness1 that prevented their believing the existence of a being1 whom their perverted reason could not conceive4 ,in a word1 they must prove1 that an infinitely just ,god can infinitely punish the invincible and natural ignorance of man with respect to the divine nature4 ,do not theologians reason very strangely8 ,they invent phantoms1 they compose them of contradictions2 they then assure us1 it is safest not to doubt the existence of these phantoms they themselves have invented4 ,according to this mode of reasoning1 there is no absurdity1 which it would not be more safe to believe1 than not to believe4 ,all children are born ,atheists2 they have no idea of ,god4 ,are they then criminal on account of their ignorance8 ,at what age must they begin to believe in ,god8 ,it is1 you say1 at the age of reason4 ,but at what time should this age commence8 ,besides1 if the profoundest theologians lose themselves in the divine nature1 which they do not presume to comprehend1 what ideas must man have of him8 #ca4 ,men believe in ,god only upon the word of those1 who have no more idea of him than themselves4 ,our nurses are our first theologians4 ,they talk to children of ,god as if he were a scarecrow2 they teach them from the earliest age to join their hands mechanically4 ,have nurses then more true ideas of ,god than the children whom they teach to pray8 #cb4 ,religion1 like a family estate1 passes1 with its incumbrances1 from parents to children4 ,few men in the world would have a ,god1 had not pains been taken in infancy to give them one4 ,each would receive from his parents and teachers the ,god whom they received from theirs2 but each1 agreeably to his disposition1 would arrange1 modify1 and paint him in his own manner4 #cc4 ,the brain of man1 especially in infancy1 is like soft wax1 fit to receive every impression that is made upon it4 ,education furnishes him with almost all his ideas at a time1 when he is incapable of judging for himself4 ,we believe we have received from nature1 or have brought with us at birth1 the true or false ideas1 which1 in a tender age1 had been instilled into our minds2 and this persuasion is one of the greatest sources of errors4 #cd4 ,prejudice contributes to cement in us the opinions of those who have been charged with our instruction4 ,we believe them much more experienced than ourselves2 we suppose they are fully convinced of the things which they teach us2 we have the greatest confidence in them2 by the care they have taken of us in infancy1 we judge them incapable of wishing to deceive us4 ,these are the motives that make us adopt a thousand errors1 without other foundation than the hazardous authority of those by whom we have been brought up4 ,the prohibition likewise of reasoning upon what they teach us1 by no means lessens our confidence2 but often contributes to increase our respect for their opinions4 #ce4 ,divines act very wisely in teaching men their religious principles before they are capable of distinguishing truth from falsehood1 or their left hand from their right4 ,it would be as difficult to instill into the mind of a man1 forty years old1 the extravagant notions that are given us of the divinity1 as to eradicate them from the mind of him who had imbibed them from infancy4 #cf4 ,it is observed1 that the wonders of nature are sufficient to lead us to the existence of a ,god1 and fully to convince us of this important truth4 ,but how many are there in the world who have the time1 capacity1 or disposition1 necessary to contemplate ,nature and meditate her progress8 ,men1 for the most part1 pay no regard to it4 ,the peasant is not struck with the beauty of the sun1 which he sees every day4 ,the sailor is not surprised at the regular motion of the ocean2 he will never draw from it theological conclusions4 ,the phenomena of nature prove the existence of a ,god only to some prejudiced men1 who have been early taught to behold the finger of ,god in every thing whose mechanism could embarrass them4 ,in the wonders of nature1 the unprejudiced philosopher sees nothing but the power of nature1 the permanent and various laws1 the necessary effects of different combinations of matter infinitely diversified4 #cg4 ,is there any thing more surprising than the logic of these divines1 who1 instead of confessing their ignorance of natural causes1 seek beyond nature1 in imaginary regions1 a cause much more unknown than that nature1 of which they can form at least some idea8 ,to say1 that ,god is the author of the phenomena of nature1 is it not to attribute them to an occult cause8 ,what is ,god8 ,what is a spirit8 ,they are causes of which we have no idea4 ,o wise divines6 ,study nature and her laws2 and since you can there discover the action of natural causes1 go not to those that are supernatural1 which1 far from enlightening1 will only darken your ideas1 and make it utterly impossible that you should understand yourselves4 #ch4 ,nature1 you say1 is totally inexplicable without a ,god4 ,that is to say1 to explain what you understand very little1 you have need of a cause which you understand not at all4 ,you think to elucidate what is obscure1 by doubling the obscurity2 to solve difficulties1 by multiplying them4 ,o enthusiastic philosophers6 ,to prove the existence of a ,god1 write complete treatises of botany2 enter into a minute detail of the parts of the human body2 launch forth into the sky1 to contemplate the revolution of the stars2 then return to the earth to admire the course of waters2 behold with transport the butterflies1 the insects1 the polypi1 and the organized atoms1 in which you think you discern the greatness of your ,god4 ,all these things will not prove the existence of ,god2 they will prove only1 that you have not just ideas of the immense variety of matter1 and of the effects1 producible by its infinitely diversified combinations1 that constitute the universe4 ,they will prove only your ignorance of nature2 that you have no idea of her powers1 when you judge her incapable of producing a multitude of forms and beings1 of which your eyes1 even with the assistance of microscopes1 never discern but the smallest part4 ,in a word1 they will prove1 that1 for want of knowing sensible agents1 or those possible to know1 you find it shorter to have recourse to a word1 expressing an inconceivable agent4 #ci4 ,we are gravely and repeatedly told1 that1 there is no effect without a cause2 that1 the world did not make itself4 ,but the universe is a cause1 it is not an effect2 it is not a work2 it has not been made1 because it is impossible that it should have been made4 ,the world has always been2 its existence is necessary2 it is its own cause4 ,nature1 whose essence is visibly to act and produce1 requires not1 to discharge her functions1 an invisible mover1 much more unknown than herself4 ,matter moves by its own energy1 by a necessary consequence of its heterogeneity4 ,the diversity of motion1 or modes of mutual action1 constitutes alone the diversity of matter4 ,we distinguish beings from one another only by the different impressions or motions which they communicate to our organs4 #dj4 ,you see1 that all is action in nature1 and yet pretend that nature1 by itself1 is dead and without power4 ,you imagine1 that this all1 essentially acting1 needs a mover6 ,what then is this mover8 ,it is a spirit2 a being absolutely incomprehensible and contradictory4 ,acknowledge then1 that matter acts of itself1 and cease to reason of your spiritual mover1 who has nothing that is requisite to put it in action4 ,return from your useless excursions2 enter again into a real world2 keep to second causes1 and leave to divines their first cause1 of which nature has no need1 to produce all the effects you observe in the world4 #da4 ,it can be only by the diversity of impressions and effects1 which bodies make upon us1 that we feel them2 that we have perceptions and ideas of them2 that we distinguish one from another2 that we assign them properties4 ,now1 to see or feel an object1 the object must act upon our organs2 this object cannot act upon us1 without exciting some motion in us2 it cannot excite motion in us1 if it be not in motion itself4 ,at the instant ,i see an object1 my eyes are struck by it2 ,i can have no conception of light and vision1 without motion1 communicated to my eye1 from the luminous1 extended1 coloured body4 ,at the instant ,i smell something1 my sense is irritated1 or put in motion1 by the parts that exhale from the odoriferous body4 ,at the moment ,i hear a sound1 the tympanum of my ear is struck by the air1 put in motion by a sonorous body1 which would not act if it were not in motion itself4 ,whence it evidently follows1 that1 without motion1 ,i can neither feel1 see1 distinguish1 compare1 judge1 nor occupy my thoughts upon any subject whatever4 ,we are taught1 that the essence of a thing is that from which all its properties flow4 ,now1 it is evident1 that all the properties of bodies1 of which we have ideas1 are owing to motion1 which alone informs us of their existence1 and gives us the first conceptions of them4 ,i cannot be informed of my own existence but by the motions ,i experience in myself4 ,i am therefore forced to conclude1 that motion is as essential to matter as extension1 and that matter cannot be conceived without it4 ,should any person deny1 that motion is essential and necessary to matter2 they cannot1 at least1 help acknowledging that bodies1 which seem dead and inert1 produce motion of themselves1 when placed in a fit situation to act upon one another4 ,for instance2 phosphorus1 when exposed to the air1 immediately takes fire4 ,meal and water1 when mixed1 ferment4 ,thus dead matter begets motion of itself4 ,matter has then the power of self-motion2 and nature1 to act1 has no need of a mover1 whose pretended essence would hinder him from acting4 #db4 ,whence comes man8 ,what is his origin8 ,did the first man spring1 ready formed1 from the dust of the earth8 ,man appears1 like all other beings1 a production of nature4 ,whence came the first stones1 the first trees1 the first lions1 the first elephants1 the first ants1 the first acorns8 ,we are incessantly told to acknowledge and revere the hand of ,god1 of an infinitely wise1 intelligent and powerful maker1 in so wonderful a work as the human machine4 ,i readily confess1 that the human machine appears to me surprising4 ,but as man exists in nature1 ,i am not authorized to say that his formation1 is above the power of nature4 ,but ,i can much less conceive of this formation1 when to explain it1 ,i am told1 that a pure spirit1 who has neither eyes1 feet1 hands1 head1 lungs1 mouth nor breath1 made man by taking a little clay1 and breathing upon it4 ,we laugh at the savage inhabitants of ,paraguay1 for calling themselves the descendants of the moon4 ,the divines of ,europe call themselves the descendants1 or the creation1 of a pure spirit4 ,is this pretension any more rational8 ,man is intelligent2 thence it is inferred1 that he can be the work only of an intelligent being1 and not of a nature1 which is void of intelligence4 ,although nothing is more rare1 than to see man make use of this intelligence1 of which he seems so proud1 ,i will grant that he is intelligent1 that his wants develop this faculty1 that society especially contributes to cultivate it4 ,but ,i see nothing in the human machine1 and in the intelligence with which it is endued1 that announces very precisely the infinite intelligence of the maker to whom it is ascribed4 ,i see that this admirable machine is liable to be deranged2 ,i see1 that his wonderful intelligence is then disordered1 and sometimes totally disappears2 ,i infer1 that human intelligence depends upon a certain disposition of the material organs of the body1 and that we cannot infer the intelligence of ,god1 any more from the intelligence of man1 than from his materiality4 ,all that we can infer from it1 is1 that ,god is material4 ,the intelligence of man no more proves the intelligence of ,god1 than the malice of man proves the malice of that ,god1 who is the pretended maker of man4 ,in spite of all the arguments of divines1 ,god will always be a cause contradicted by its effects1 or of which it is impossible to judge by its works4 ,we shall always see evil1 imperfection and folly result from such a cause1 that is said to be full of goodness1 perfection and wisdom4 #dc4 ,what8 you will say1 is intelligent man1 is the universe1 and all it contains1 the effect of chance8 ,no2 ,i repeat it1 the universe is not an effect2 it is the cause of all effects2 every being it contains is the necessary effect of this cause1 which sometimes shews us its manner of acting1 but generally conceals its operations4 ,men use the word chance to hide their ignorance of true causes1 which1 though not understood1 act not less according to certain laws4 ,there is no effect without a cause4 ,nature is a word1 used to denote the immense assemblage of beings1 various matter1 infinite combinations1 and diversified motions1 that we behold4 ,all bodies1 organized or unorganized1 are necessary effects of certain causes4 ,nothing in nature can happen by chance4 ,every thing is subject to fixed laws4 ,these laws are only the necessary connection of certain effects with their causes4 ,one atom of matter cannot meet another by chance2 this meeting is the effect of permanent laws1 which cause every being necessarily to act as it does1 and hinder it from acting otherwise1 in given circumstances4 ,to talk of the fortuitous concourse of atoms1 or to attribute some effects to chance1 is merely saying that we are ignorant of the laws1 by which bodies act1 meet1 combine1 or separate4 ,those1 who are unacquainted with nature1 the properties of beings1 and the effects which must necessarily result from the concurrence of certain causes1 think1 that every thing takes place by chance4 ,it is not chance1 that has placed the sun in the centre of our planetary system2 it is by its own essence1 that the substance1 of which it is composed1 must occupy that place1 and thence be diffused4 #dd4 ,the worshippers of a ,god find1 in the order of the universe1 an invincible proof of the existence of an intelligent and wise being1 who governs it4 ,but this order is nothing but a series of movements necessarily produced by causes or circumstances1 which are sometimes favourable1 and sometimes hurtful to us3 we approve of some1 and complain of others4 ,nature uniformly follows the same round2 that is1 the same causes produce the same effects1 as long as their action is not disturbed by other causes1 which force them to produce different effects4 ,when the operation of causes1 whose effects we experience1 is interrupted by causes1 which1 though unknown1 are not the less natural and necessary1 we are confounded2 we cry out1 a miracle6 and attribute it to a cause much more unknown1 than any of those acting before our eyes4 ,the universe is always in order4 ,it cannot be in disorder4 ,it is our machine1 that suffers1 when we complain of disorder4 ,the bodies1 causes1 and beings1 which this world contains1 necessarily act in the manner in which we see them act1 whether we approve or disapprove of their effects4 ,earthquakes1 volcanoes1 inundations1 pestilences1 and famines are effects as necessary1 or as much in the order of nature1 as the fall of heavy bodies1 the courses of rivers1 the periodical motions of the seas1 the blowing of the winds1 the fruitful rains1 and the favourable effects1 for which men praise ,god1 and thank him for his goodness4 ,to be astonished that a certain order reigns in the world1 is to be surprised that the same causes constantly produce the same effects4 ,to be shocked at disorder1 is to forget1 that when things change1 or are interrupted in their actions1 the effects can no longer be the same4 ,to wonder at the order of nature1 is to wonder that any thing can exist2 it is to be surprised at any one's own existence4 ,what is order to one being1 is disorder to another4 ,all wicked beings find that every thing is in order1 when they can with impunity put every thing in disorder4 ,they find1 on the contrary1 that every thing is in disorder1 when they are disturbed in the exercise of their wickedness4 #de4 ,upon supposition that ,god is the author and mover of nature1 there could be no disorder with respect to him4 ,would not all the causes1 that he should have made1 necessarily act according to the properties1 essences1 and impulses given them8 ,if ,god should change the ordinary course of nature1 he would not be immutable4 ,if the order of the universe1 in which man thinks he sees the most convincing proof of the existence1 intelligence1 power and goodness of ,god1 should happen to contradict itself1 one might suspect his existence1 or1 at least1 accuse him of inconstancy1 impotence1 want of foresight and wisdom in the arrangement of things2 one would have a right to accuse him of an oversight in the choice of the agents and instruments1 which he makes1 prepares1 and puts in action4 ,in short1 if the order of nature proves the power and intelligence of the ,deity1 disorder must prove his weakness1 instability1 and irrationality4 ,you say1 that ,god is omnipresent1 that he fills the universe with his immensity1 that nothing is done without him1 that matter could not act without his agency4 ,but in this case1 you admit1 that your ,god is the author of disorder1 that it is he who deranges nature1 that he is the father of confusion1 that he is in man1 and moves him at the moment he sins4 ,if ,god is every where1 he is in me1 he acts with me1 he is deceived with me1 he offends ,god with me1 and combats with me the existence of ,god6 ,o theologians6 you never understand yourselves1 when you speak of ,god4 #df4 ,in order to have what we call intelligence1 it is necessary to have ideas1 thoughts1 and wishes2 to have ideas1 thoughts1 and wishes1 it is necessary to have organs2 to have organs1 it is necessary to have a body2 to act upon bodies1 it is necessary to have a body2 to experience disorder1 it is necessary to be capable of suffering4 ,whence it evidently follows1 that a pure spirit can neither be intelligent1 nor affected by what passes in the universe4 ,divine intelligence1 ideas1 and views1 have1 you say1 nothing common with those of men4 ,very well4 ,how then can men judge1 right or wrong1 of these views2 reason upon these ideas2 or admire this intelligence8 ,this would be to judge1 admire1 and adore that1 of which we can have no ideas4 ,to adore the profound views of divine wisdom1 is it not to adore that1 of which we cannot possibly judge8 ,to admire these views1 is it not to admire without knowing why8 ,admiration is always the daughter of ignorance4 ,men admire and adore only what they do not comprehend4 #dg4 ,all those qualities1 ascribed to ,god1 are totally incompatible with a being1 who1 by his very essence1 is void of all analogy with human beings4 ,it is true1 the divines imagine they extricate themselves from this difficulty1 by exaggerating the human qualities1 attributed to the ,divinity2 they enlarge them to infinity1 where they cease to understand themselves4 ,what results from this combination of man with ,god8 ,a mere chimera1 of which1 if any thing be affirmed1 the phantom1 combined with so much pains1 instantly vanishes4 ,dante1 in his poem upon ,paradise1 relates1 that the ,deity appeared to him under the figure of three circles1 forming an iris1 whose lively colours generated each other2 but that1 looking steadily upon the dazzling light1 he saw only his own figure4 ,while adoring ,god1 it is himself1 that man adores4 #dh4 ,ought not the least reflection suffice to prove1 that ,god can have none of the human qualities1 all ties1 virtues1 or perfections8 ,our virtues and perfections are consequences of the modifications of our passions4 ,but has ,god passions as we have8 ,again3 our good qualities consist in our dispositions towards the beings with whom we live in society4 ,god1 according to you1 is an insulated being4 ,god has no equals--no fellow-beings4 ,god does not live in society4 ,he wants the assistance of no one4 ,he enjoys an unchangeable felicity4 ,admit then1 according to your own principles1 that ,god cannot have what we call virtues1 and that man cannot be virtuous with respect to him4 #di4 ,man1 wrapped up in his own merit1 imagines the human race to be the sole object of ,god in creating the universe4 ,upon what does he found this flattering opinion8 ,we are told3 that man is the only being endued with intelligence1 which enables him to know the ,deity1 and to render him homage4 ,we are assured1 that ,god made the world only for his own glory1 and that it was necessary that the human species should come into this plan1 that there might be some one to admire his works1 and glorify him for them4 ,but1 according to these suppositions1 has not ,god evidently missed his object8 #ast4 ,man1 according to yourselves1 will always labour under the completest impossibility of knowing his ,god1 and the most invincible ignorance of his divine essence4 #bndly4 ,a being1 who has no equal1 cannot be susceptible of glory2 for glory can result only from the comparison of one's own excellence with that of others4 #crdly4 ,if ,god be infinitely happy1 if he be self-sufficient1 what need has he of the homage of his feeble creatures8 #dthly4 ,god1 notwithstanding all his endeavours1 is not glorified2 but1 on the contrary1 all the religions in the world represent him as perpetually offended2 their sole object is to reconcile sinful1 ungrateful1 rebellious man with his angry ,god4 #ej4 ,if ,god be infinite1 he has much less relation with man1 than man with ants4 ,would the ants reason pertinently concerning the intentions1 desires1 and projects of the gardener8 ,could they justly imagine1 that a park was planted for them alone1 by an ostentatious monarch1 and that the sole object of his goodness was to furnish them with a superb residence8 ,but1 according to theology1 man is1 with respect to ,god1 far below what the vilest insect is to man4 ,thus1 by theology itself1 which is wholly devoted to the attributes and views of the ,divinity1 theology appears a complete folly4 #ea4 ,we are told1 that1 in the formation of the universe1 ,god's only object was the happiness of man4 ,but1 in a world made purposely for him1 and governed by an omnipotent ,god1 is man in reality very happy8 ,are his enjoyments durable8 ,are not his pleasures mixed with pains8 ,are many persons satisfied with their fate8 ,is not man continually the victim of physical and moral evils8 ,is not the human machine1 which is represented as a master-piece of the ,creator's skill1 liable to derangement in a thousand ways8 ,should we be surprised at the workmanship of a mechanic1 who should shew us a complex machine1 ready to stop every moment1 and which1 in a short time1 would break in pieces of itself8 #eb4 ,the generous care1 displayed by the ,deity in providing for the wants1 and watching over the happiness of his beloved creatures1 is called ,providence4 ,but1 when we open our eyes1 we find that ,god provides nothing4 ,providence sleeps over the greater part of the inhabitants of this world4 ,for a very small number of men who are supposed to be happy1 what an immense multitude groan under oppression1 and languish in misery6 ,are not nations forced to deprive themselves of bread1 to administer to the extravagances of a few gloomy tyrants1 who are no happier than their oppressed slaves8 ,at the same time that our divines emphatically expatiate upon the goodness of ,providence1 while they exhort us to repose our confidence in her1 do we not hear them1 at the sight of unforeseen catastrophes1 exclaim1 that ,providence sports with the vain projects of man1 that she frustrates their designs1 that she laughs at their efforts1 that profound wisdom delights to bewilder the minds of mortals8 ,but1 shall we put confidence in a malignant ,providence1 who laughs at1 and sports with mankind8 ,how will one admire the unknown ways of a hidden wisdom1 whose manner of acting is inexplicable8 ,judge of it by effects1 you will say4 ,we do2 and find1 that these effects are sometimes useful1 and sometimes hurtful4 ,men think they justify ,providence1 by saying1 that1 in this world1 there is much more good than evil to every individual of mankind4 ,supposing the good1 we enjoy from ,providence1 is to the evil1 as a hundred to ten2 will it not still follow1 that1 for a hundred degrees of goodness1 ,providence possesses ten of malignity2 which is incompatible with the supposed perfection of the divine nature4 ,almost all books are filled with the most flattering praises of ,providence1 whose attentive care is highly extolled4 ,it would seem as if man1 to live happily here below1 needed not his own exertions4 ,yet1 without his own labour1 man could subsist hardly a day4 ,to live1 he is obliged to sweat1 toil1 hunt1 fish1 and labour without intermission4 ,without these second causes1 the first cause1 at least in most countries1 would provide for none of our wants4 ,in all parts of the globe1 we see savage and civilized man in a perpetual struggle with ,providence4 ,he is necessitated to ward off the strokes directed against him by ,providence1 in hurricanes1 tempests1 frosts1 hail-storms1 inundations1 droughts1 and the various accidents1 which so often render useless all his labours4 ,in a word1 we see man continually occupied in guarding against the ill offices of that ,providence1 which is supposed to be attentive to his happiness4 ,a bigot admired divine ,providence for wisely ordering rivers to pass through those places1 where men have built large cities4 ,is not this man's reasoning as rational1 as that of many learned men1 who incessantly talk of final causes1 or who pretend that they clearly perceive the beneficent views of ,god in the formation of all things8 #ec4 ,do we see then1 that ,providence so very sensibly manifests herself in the preservation of those admirable works1 which we attribute to her8 ,if it is she1 who governs the world1 we find her as active in destroying1 as in forming2 in exterminating1 as in producing4 ,does she not every moment destroy1 by thousands1 the very men1 to whose preservation and welfare we suppose her continually attentive8 ,every moment she loses sight of her beloved creature4 ,sometimes she shakes his dwelling1 sometimes she annihilates his harvests1 sometimes she inundates his fields1 sometimes she desolates them by a burning drought4 ,she arms all nature against man4 ,she arms man himself against his own species1 and commonly terminates his existence in anguish4 ,is this then what is called preserving the universe8 ,if we could view1 without prejudice1 the equivocal conduct of ,providence towards the human race and all sensible beings1 we should find1 that far from resembling a tender and careful mother1 she resembles rather those unnatural mothers1 who instantly forgetting the unfortunates of their licentious love1 abandon their infants1 as soon as they are born1 and who1 content with having borne them1 expose them1 helpless1 to the caprice of fortune4 ,the ,hottentots1 in this respect are much wiser than other nations1 who treat them as barbarians1 and refuse to worship ,god2 because1 they say1 if he often does good1 he often does evil4 ,is not this manner of reasoning more just and conformable to experience1 than that of many men1 who are determined to see1 in their ,god1 nothing but goodness1 wisdom1 and foresight1 and who refuse to see that the innumerable evils1 of which this world is the theatre1 must come from the same hand1 which they kiss with delight8 #ed4 ,common sense teaches1 that we cannot1 and ought not1 to judge of a cause1 but by its effects4 ,a cause can be reputed constantly good1 only when it constantly produces good4 ,a cause1 which produces both good and evil1 is sometimes good1 and sometimes evil4 ,but the logic of theology destroys all this4 ,according to that1 the phenomena of nature1 or the effects we behold in this world1 prove to us the existence of a cause infinitely good2 and this cause is ,god4 ,although this world is full of evils2 although disorder often reigns in it2 although men incessantly repine at their hard fate2 we must be convinced1 that these effects are owing to a beneficent and immutable cause2 and many people believe it1 or feign believe4 ,every thing that passes in the world1 proves to us1 in the clearest manner1 that it is not governed by an intelligent being4 ,we can judge of the intelligence of a being only by the conformity of the means1 which he employs to attain his proposed object4 ,the object of ,god1 is the happiness of a man4 ,yet1 a like necessity governs the fate of all sensible beings1 who are born only to suffer much1 enjoy little1 and die4 ,the cup of man is filled with joy and bitterness2 good is every where attended with evil2 order gives place to disorder2 generation is followed by destruction4 ,if you say1 that the designs of ,god are mysterious and that his ways are impenetrable2 ,i answer1 that1 in this case1 it is impossible to judge whether ,god be intelligent4 #ee4 ,you pretend1 that ,god is immutable6 ,what then produces a continual instability in this world1 which you make his empire8 ,is there a state1 subject to more frequent and cruel revolutions1 than that of this unknown monarch8 ,how can we attribute to an immutable ,god1 sufficiently powerful to give solidity to his works1 a government1 in which every thing is in continual vicissitude8 ,if ,i imagine ,i see a ,god of uniform character in all the effects favourable to my species1 what kind of a ,god can ,i see in their continual misfortunes8 ,you tell me1 it is our sins1 which compel him to punish4 ,i answer1 that ,god1 according to yourselves1 is then not immutable1 since the sins of men force him to change his conduct towards them4 ,can a being1 who is sometimes provoked1 and sometimes appeased1 be constantly the same8 #ef4 ,the universe can be only what it is2 all sensible beings in it enjoy and suffer2 that is1 are moved sometimes in an agreeable1 and sometimes in a disagreeable manner4 ,these effects are necessary2 they result necessarily from causes1 which act only according to their properties4 ,these effects necessarily please1 or displease1 by a consequence of nature4 ,this same nature compels me to avoid1 avert1 and resist some things1 and to seek1 desire1 and procure others4 ,in a world1 where every thing is necessary1 a ,god1 who remedies nothing1 who leaves things to run in their necessary course1--is he any thing but destiny1 or necessity personified8 ,it is a deaf and useless ,god1 who can effect no change in general laws1 to which he is himself subject4 ,of what importance is the infinite power of a being1 who will do but very little in my favour8 ,where is the infinite goodness of a being1 indifferent to happiness8 ,of what service is the favour of a being1 who1 is able to do an infinite good1 does not do even a finite one8 #eg4 ,when we ask1 why so many miserable objects appear under the government of a good ,god1 we are told1 by way of consolation1 that the present world is only a passage1 designed to conduct man to a happier one4 ,the divines assure us1 that the earth we inhabit1 is a state of trial4 ,in short1 they shut our mouths1 by saying1 that ,god could communicate to his creatures neither impossibility nor infinite happiness1 which are reserved for himself alone4 ,can such answers be satisfactory8 #ast4 ,the existence of another life is guaranteed to us only by the imagination of man1 who1 by supposing it1 have only realized the desire they have of surviving themselves1 in order to enjoy hereafter a purer and more durable happiness4 #bndly4 ,how can we conceive that a ,god1 who knows every thing1 and must be fully acquainted with the dispositions of his creatures1 should want so many experiments1 in order to be sure of their dispositions8 #crdly4 ,according to the calculations of their chronologists1 our earth has existed six or seven thousand years4 ,during that time1 nations have experienced calamities4 ,history exhibits the human species at all times tormented and ravaged by tyrants1 conquerors1 and heroes2 by wars1 inundations1 famines1 plagues1 etc4 ,are such long trials then likely to inspire us with very great confidence in the secret views of the ,deity8 ,do such numerous and constant evils give a very exalted idea of the future state1 his goodness is preparing for us8 #dthly4 ,if ,god is so kindly disposed1 as he is asserted to be1 without giving men infinite happiness1 could he not at least have communicated the degree of happiness1 of which finite beings are susceptible here below8 ,to be happy1 must we have an infinite or divine happiness8 #ethly4 ,if ,god could not make men happier than they are here below1 what will become of the hope of a paradise1 where it is pretended1 that the elect will for ever enjoy ineffable bliss8 ,if ,god neither could nor would avert evil from the earth1 the only residence we can know1 what reason have we to presume1 that he can or will avert evil from another world1 of which we have no idea8 ,epicurus observed3 either ,god would remove evil out of this world1 and cannot2 or he can1 and will not2 or he has neither the power nor will2 or1 lastly1 he has both the power and will4 ,if he has the will1 and not the power1 this shews weakness1 which is contrary to the nature of ,god4 ,if he has the power1 and not the will1 it is malignity2 and this is no less contrary to his nature4 ,if he is neither able nor willing1 he is both impotent and malignant1 and consequently cannot be ,god4 ,if he be both willing and able 7which alone is consonant to the nature of ,god7 whence comes evil1 or why does he not prevent it8 ,reflecting minds are still waiting for a reasonable solution of these difficulties2 and our divines tell us1 that they will be removed only in a future life4 #eh4 ,we are told of a pretended scale of beings4 ,it is supposed1 that ,god has divided his creatures into different classes1 in which each enjoys the degree of happiness1 of which it is susceptible4 ,according to this romantic arrangement1 from the oyster to the celestial angels1 all beings enjoy a happiness1 which is suitable to their nature4 ,experience explicitly contradicts this sublime reverie4 ,in this world1 all sensible beings suffer and live in the midst of dangers4 ,man cannot walk without hurting1 tormenting1 or killing a multitude of sensible beings1 which are in his way2 while he himself is exposed1 at every step1 to a multitude of evils1 foreseen or unforeseen1 which may lead him to destruction4 ,during the whole course of his life1 he is exposed to pains2 he is not sure1 a moment1 of his existence1 to which he is so strongly attached1 and which he regards as the greatest gift of the ,divinity4 #ei4 ,the world1 it will be said1 has all the perfection1 of which it is susceptible3 since it is not ,god who made it1 it must have great qualities and great defects4 ,but we answer1 that1 as the world must necessarily have great defects1 it would have been more conformable to the nature of a good ,god1 not to have created a world1 which he could not make completely happy4 ,if ,god was supremely happy1 before the creation of the world1 and could have continued to be supremely happy1 without creating the world1 why did he not remain at rest8 ,why must man suffer8 ,why must man exist8 ,of what importance is his existence to ,god8 ,nothing1 or something8 ,if man's existence is not useful or necessary to ,god1 why did ,god make man8 ,if man's existence is necessary to ,god's glory1 he had need of man2 he was deficient in something before man existed4 ,we can pardon an unskilful workman for making an imperfect work2 because he must work1 well or ill1 upon penalty of starving4 ,this workman is excusable1 but ,god is not4 ,according to you1 he is self-sufficient2 if so1 why does he make men8 ,he has1 you say1 every thing requisite to make man happy4 ,why then does he not do it8 ,confess1 that your ,god has more malice than goodness1 unless you admit1 that ,god1 was necessitated to do what he has done1 without being able to do it otherwise4 ,yet1 you assure us1 that ,god is free4 ,you say also1 that he is immutable1 although it was in ,time that he began and ceased to exercise his power1 like the inconstant beings of this world4 ,o theologians6 ,vain are your efforts to free your ,god from defects4 ,this perfect ,god has always some human imperfections4 #fj4 ,is not ,god master of his favours8 ,can he not give them8 ,can he not take them away8 ,it does not belong to his creatures to require reasons for his conduct4 ,he can dispose of the works of his own hands as he pleases4 ,absolute sovereign of mortals1 he distributes happiness or misery1 according to his good pleasure4 ,such are the solutions given by theologians to console us for the evils which ,god inflicts upon us4 ,we reply1 that a ,god1 who is infinitely good1 cannot be master of his favours1 but would by his nature be obliged to bestow them upon his creatures2 that a being1 truly beneficent1 cannot refrain from doing good2 that a being1 truly generous1 does not take back what he has given2 and that every man1 who does so1 dispenses with gratitude1 and has no right to complain of finding ungrateful men4 ,how can the odd and capricious conduct1 which theologians ascribe to ,god1 be reconciled with religion1 which supposes a covenant1 or mutual engagements between ,god and men8 ,if ,god owes nothing to his creatures1 they1 on their part1 can owe nothing to their ,god4 ,all religion is founded upon the happiness that men think they have a right to expect from the ,deity1 who is supposed to say to them3 ,love me1 adore me1 obey me3 and ,i will make you happy4 ,men1 on their part1 say to him3 ,make us happy1 be faithful to your promises1 and we will love you1 we will adore you1 and obey your laws4 ,by neglecting the happiness of his creatures1 distributing his favours according to his caprice1 and retracting his gifts1 does not ,god break the covenant1 which serves as the basis of all religion8 ,cicero has justly observed1 that if ,god is not agreeable to man1 he cannot be his ,god4 ,goodness constitutes deity2 this goodness can be manifested to man only by the blessings he enjoys2 as soon as he is unhappy1 this goodness disappears1 and with it the divinity4 ,an infinite goodness can be neither limited1 partial1 nor exclusive4 ,if ,god be infinitely good1 he owes happiness to all his creatures4 ,the unhappiness of a single being would suffice to annihilate unbounded goodness4 ,under an infinitely good and powerful ,god1 is it possible to conceive that a single man should suffer8 ,one animal1 or mite1 that suffers1 furnishes invincible arguments against divine providence and its infinite goodness4 #fa4 ,according to theology1 the afflictions and evils of this life are chastisements1 which guilty men incur from the hand of ,god4 ,but why are men guilty8 ,if ,god is omnipotent1 does it cost him more to say3 ,let every thing in the world be in order2 let all my subjects be good1 innocent1 and fortunate1 than to say3 ,let every thing exist8 ,was it more difficult for this ,god to do his work well1 than badly8 ,religion tells us of a hell2 that is1 a frightful abode1 where1 notwithstanding his goodness1 ,god reserves infinite torments for the majority of men4 ,thus after having rendered mortals very unhappy in this world1 religion tells them1 that ,god can render them still more unhappy in another6 ,the theologian gets over this1 by saying1 that the goodness of ,god will then give place to his justice4 ,but a goodness1 which gives place to the most terrible cruelty1 is not an infinite goodness4 ,besides1 can a ,god1 who1 after having been infinitely good1 becomes infinitely bad1 be regarded as an immutable being8 ,can we discern the shadow of clemency or goodness1 in a ,god filled with implacable fury8 #fb4 ,divine justice1 as stated by our divines1 is undoubtedly a quality very proper to cherish in us the love of the ,divinity4 ,according to the ideas of modern theology1 it is evident1 that ,god has created the majority of men1 with the sole view of putting them in a fair way to incur eternal punishment4 ,would it not have been more conformable to goodness1 reason1 and equity1 to have created only stones or plants1 and not to have created sensible beings2 than to have formed men1 whose conduct in this world might subject them to endless punishment in the other8 ,a ,god perfidious and malicious enough to create a single man1 and then to abandon him to the danger of being damned1 cannot be regarded as a perfect being2 but as an unreasonable1 unjust1 and ill-natured4 ,very far from composing a perfect ,god1 theologians have formed the most imperfect of beings4 ,according to theological notions1 ,god would resemble a tyrant1 who1 having put out the eyes of the greater part of his slaves1 should shut them up in a dungeon1 where1 for his amusement1 he would1 incognito1 observe their conduct through a trap-door1 in order to punish with rigour all those1 who1 while walking about1 should hit against each other2 but who would magnificently reward the few whom he had not deprived of sight1 in avoiding to run against their comrades4 ,such are the ideas1 which the dogma of gratuitous predestination gives us of the divinity6 ,although men are continually repeating that their ,god is infinitely good2 yet it is evident1 that in reality1 they can believe nothing of the kind4 ,how can we love what we do not know8 ,how can we love a being1 whose character is only fit to throw us into inquietude and trouble8 ,how can we love a being1 of whom all that is said tends to render him an object of utter detestation8 #fc4 ,many people make a subtle distinction between true religion and superstition4 ,they say1 that the latter is only a base and inordinate fear of the ,deity2 but that the truly religious man has confidence in his ,god1 and loves him sincerely2 whereas1 the superstitious man sees in him only an enemy1 has no confidence in him1 and represents him to himself as a distrustful1 cruel tyrant1 sparing of his benefits1 lavish of his chastisements4 ,but1 in reality1 does not all religion give us the same ideas of ,god8 ,at the same time that we are told1 that ,god is infinitely good1 are we not also told1 that he is very easily provoked1 that he grants his favours to a few people only1 and that he furiously chastises those1 to whom he has not been pleased to grant favours8 #fd4 ,if we take our ideas of ,god from the nature of things1 where we find a mixture of good and evil1 this ,god1 just like the good and evil of which we experience1 must naturally appear capricious1 inconstant1 sometimes good1 and sometimes malevolent2 and therefore1 instead of exciting our love1 must generate distrust1 fear1 and uncertainty4 ,there is then no real difference between natural religion1 and the most gloomy and servile superstition4 ,if the theist sees ,god only in a favourable light2 the bigot views him in the most hideous light4 ,the folly of the one is cheerful1 that of the other is melancholy2 but both are equally delirious4 #fe4 ,if ,i draw my ideas of ,god from theology1 he appears to inspire aversion4 ,devotees1 who tell us1 that they sincerely love their ,god1 are either liars or fools1 who see their ,god only in profile4 ,it is impossible to love a being1 the very idea of whom strikes us with terror1 and whose judgments make us tremble4 ,how can we1 without being alarmed1 look upon a ,god1 who is reputed to be barbarous enough to damn us8 ,let not divines talk to us of a filial1 or respectful fear1 mixed with love1 which men ought to have for their ,god4 ,a son can by no means love his father1 when he knows him to be cruel enough to inflict upon him studied torments for the least faults he may commit4 ,no man upon earth can have the least spark of love for a ,god1 who reserves chastisements1 infinite in duration and violence1 for ninety-nine hundredths of his children4 #ff4 ,the inventors of the dogma of eternal hell-torments have made of that ,god1 whom they call so good1 the most detestable of beings4 ,cruelty in men is the last act of wickedness4 ,every sensible mind must revolt at the bare recital of the torments1 inflicted on the greatest criminal2 but cruelty is much more apt to excite indignation1 when void of motives4 ,the most sanguinary tyrants1 the ,caligulas1 the ,neros1 the ,domitians1 had1 at least1 some motives for tormenting their victims4 ,these motives were1 either their own safety1 or the fury of revenge1 or the design of frightening by terrible examples1 or perhaps the vanity of making a display of their power1 and the desire of satisfying a barbarous curiosity4 ,can a ,god have any of these motives8 ,in tormenting the victims of his wrath1 he would punish beings1 who could neither endanger his immoveable power1 nor disturb his unchangeable felicity4 ,on the other hand1 the punishments of the other life would be useless to the living1 who cannot be witnesses of them4 ,these punishments would be useless to the damned1 since in hell there is no longer room for conversion1 and the time of mercy is past4 ,whence it follows1 that ,god1 in the exercise of his eternal vengeance1 could have no other end than to amuse himself1 and insult the weakness of his creatures4 ,i appeal to the whole human race2--is there a man who feels cruel enough coolly to torment1 ,i do not say his fellow-creature1 but any sensible being whatever1 without emolument1 without profit1 without curiosity1 without having any thing to fear8 ,confess then1 ,o theologians1 that1 even according to your own principles1 your ,god is infinitely more malevolent than the worst of men4 ,perhaps you will say1 that infinite offences deserve infinite punishments4 ,i answer1 that we cannot offend a ,god1 whose happiness is infinite2 that the offences of finite beings cannot be infinite2 that a ,god1 who is unwilling to be offended1 cannot consent that the offences of his creatures should be eternal2 that a ,god1 infinitely good1 can neither be infinitely cruel1 nor grant his creatures an infinite duration1 solely for the pleasure of eternal torments4 ,nothing but the most savage barbarity1 the most egregious roguery1 or the blindest ambition could have imagined the doctrine of eternal punishments4 ,if there is a ,god1 whom we can offend or blaspheme1 there are not upon earth greater blasphemers than those1 who dare to say1 that this same ,god is a tyrant1 perverse enough to delight1 during eternity1 in the useless torments of his feeble creatures4 #fg4 ,to pretend1 that ,god can be offended at the actions of men1 is to annihilate all the ideas1 which divines endeavour to give us1 in other respects1 of this being4 ,to say1 that man can trouble the order of the universe2 that he can kindle the thunder in the hands of his ,god2 that he can defeat his projects1 is to say1 that man is stronger than his ,god1 that he is the arbiter of his will1 that it depends upon him to change his goodness into cruelty4 ,theology continually pulls down1 with one hand1 what it erects with the other4 ,if all religion is founded upon a ,god1 who is provoked and appeased1 all religion is founded on a palpable contradiction4 ,all religions agree in exalting the wisdom and infinite power of the ,deity4 ,but no sooner do they display his conduct1 than we see nothing but imprudence1 want of foresight1 weakness and folly4 ,god1 it is said1 created the world for himself2 and yet1 hitherto1 he has never been able to make himself suitably honoured by it4 ,god created men in order to have1 in his dominions1 subjects to render him their homage2 and yet1 we see men in continual revolt against him4 #fh4 ,they incessantly extol the divine perfections2 and when we demand proofs of them1 they point to his works1 in which1 they assure us1 these perfections are written in indelible characters4 ,all these works are1 however1 imperfect and perishable4 ,man1 who is ever regarded as the most marvellous work1 as the master-piece of the ,deity1 is full of imperfections1 which render him disagreeable to the eyes of the almighty ,being1 who formed him4 ,this surprising work often becomes so revolting and odious to its author1 that he is obliged to throw it into the fire4 ,but1 if the fairest of ,god's works is imperfect1 how can we judge of the divine perfections8 ,can a work1 with which the author himself is so little pleased1 induce us to admire the ability of its ,maker8 ,man1 considered in a physical sense1 is subject to a thousand infirmities1 to numberless evils1 and to death4 ,man1 considered in a moral sense1 is full of faults2 yet we are unceasingly told1 that he is the most beautiful work of the most perfect of beings4 #fi4 ,in creating beings more perfect than men1 it appears1 that heretofore ,god has not better succeeded1 nor given stronger proofs of his perfection4 ,do we not see1 in many religions1 that angels1 have even attempted to dethrone him8 ,god proposed the happiness of angels and men2 yet1 he has never been able to render happy either angels or men2--the pride1 malice1 sins1 and imperfections of the creatures have always opposed the will of the perfect ,creator4 #gj4 ,all religion is obviously founded upon this principle1 that ,god does what he can1 and man what he will4 ,every system of religion presents to us an unequal combat between the ,deity on one part1 and his creatures on the other1 in which the former never comes off to his honour4 ,notwithstanding his omnipotence1 he cannot succeed in rendering the works of his hands such as he would have them4 ,to complete the absurdity1 there is a religion1 which pretends1 that ,god himself has died to redeem mankind2 and yet1 men are not farther from any thing1 than they are from what ,god would have them4 #ga4 ,nothing is more extravagant1 than the part1 theology makes the ,divinity act in every country4 ,did he really exist1 we should see in him the most capricious1 and senseless being4 ,we should be compelled to believe1 that ,god made the world only to be the theatre of his disgraceful wars with his creatures2 that he created angels1 men1 and demons1 only to make adversaries1 against whom he might exercise his power4 ,he renders men free to offend him1 malicious enough to defeat his projects1 too obstinate to submit2 and all this merely for the pleasure of being angry1 appeased1 reconciled1 and of repairing the disorder they have made4 ,had the ,deity at once formed his creatures such as he would have them1 what pains would he not have spared himself1 or1 at least1 from what embarrassments would he not have relieved his theologians6 ,every religion represents ,god as busy only in doing himself evil4 ,he resembles those empirics1 who inflict upon themselves wounds1 to have an opportunity of exhibiting to the public the efficacy of their ointment4 ,but we see not1 that the ,deity has hitherto been able radically to cure himself of the evil1 which he suffers from man4 #gb4 ,god is the author of all2 and yet1 we are assured that evil does not come from ,god4 ,whence then does it come8 ,from man4 ,but1 who made man8 ,god4 ,evil then comes from ,god4 ,if he had not made man as he is1 moral evil or sin would not have existed in the world4 ,the perversity of man is therefore chargeable to ,god4 ,if man has power to do evil1 or to offend ,god1 we are forced to infer1 that ,god chooses to be offended2 that ,god1 who made man1 has resolved that man shall do evil2 otherwise man would be an effect contrary to the cause1 from which he derives his being4 #gc4 ,man ascribes to ,god the faculty of foreseeing1 or knowing beforehand whatever will happen2 but this prescience seldom turns to his glory1 nor protects him from the lawful reproaches of man4 ,if ,god foreknows the future1 must he not have foreseen the fall of his creatures8 ,if he resolved in his decrees to permit this fall1 it is undoubtedly because it was his will that this fall should take place1 otherwise it could not have happened4 ,if ,god's foreknowledge of the sins of his creatures had been necessary or forced1 one might suppose1 that he has been constrained by his justice to punish the guilty2 but1 enjoying the faculty of foreseeing1 and the power of predetermining every thing1 did it not depend upon ,god not to impose upon himself cruel laws1 or1 at least1 could he not dispense with creating beings1 whom he might be under the necessity of punishing1 and rendering unhappy by a subsequent decree8 ,of what consequence is it1 whether ,god has destined men to happiness or misery by an anterior decree1 an effect of his prescience1 or by a posterior decree1 an effect of his justice8 ,does the arrangement of his decrees alter the fate of the unhappy8 ,would they not have the same right to complain of a ,god1 who1 being able to omit their creation1 has notwithstanding created them1 although he plainly foresaw that his justice would oblige him1 sooner or later1 to punish them8 #gd4 ,man1 you say1 when he came from the hand of ,god1 was pure1 innocent1 and good2 but his nature has been corrupted1 as a punishment for sin4 ,if man1 when just out of the hands of his ,god1 could sin1 his nature was imperfect4 ,why did ,god suffer him to sin1 and his nature to be corrupted8 ,why did ,god permit him to be seduced1 well knowing that he was too feeble to resist temptation8 ,why did ,god create satan1 an evil spirit1 a tempter8 ,why did not ,god1 who wishes so much good to the human race1 annihilate once for all so many evil genii1 who are naturally enemies of our happiness2 or rather1 why did ,god create evil spirits1 whose victories and fatal influence over mankind1 he must have foreseen8 ,in fine1 by what strange fatality in all religions of the world1 has the evil principle such a decided advantage over the good principle1 or the divinity8 #ge4 ,there is related an instance of simplicity1 which does honour to the heart of an ,italian monk4 ,one day1 while preaching1 this pious man thought he must announce to his audience1 that he had1 thank heaven1 at last discovered1 by dint of meditation1 a sure way of rendering all men happy4 ,the devil1 said he1 tempts men only to have in hell companions of his misery4 ,let us therefore apply to the ,pope1 who has the keys of heaven and hell2 let us prevail upon him to pray to ,god1 at the head of the whole church1 to consent to a reconciliation with the devil1 to restore him to favour1 to reinstate him in his former rank1 which cannot fail to put an end to his malicious projects against mankind4 ,perhaps the honest monk did not see1 that the devil is at least as useful as ,god to the ministers of religion4 ,they have too much interest in their dissensions1 to be instrumental in an accommodation between two enemies1 upon whose combats their own existence and revenues depend4 ,let men cease to be tempted and to sin1 and the ministry of priests will be useless4 ,manicheism is evidently the hinge of every religion2 but unhappily1 the devil1 invented to clear the deity from the suspicion of malice1 proves to us1 every moment1 the impotence or unskilfulness of his celestial adversary4 #gf4 ,the nature of man1 it is said1 was necessarily liable to corruption4 ,god could not communicate to him impeccability1 which is an inalienable attribute of his divine perfection4 ,but if ,god could not make man impeccable1 why did he give himself the pains to make man1 whose nature must necessarily be corrupted1 and who must consequently offend ,god8 ,on the other hand1 if ,god himself could not make human nature impeccable1 by what right does he punish men for not being impeccable8 ,it can be only by the right of the strongest2 but the right of the strongest is called violence1 and violence cannot be compatible with the justest of beings4 ,god would be supremely unjust1 should he punish men for not sharing with him his divine perfections1 or for not being able to be gods like him4 ,could not ,god1 at least1 have communicated to all men that kind of perfection1 of which their nature is susceptible8 ,if some men are good1 or render themselves agreeable to their ,god1 why has not that ,god done the same favour1 or given the same dispositions to all beings of our species8 ,why does the number of the wicked so much exceed the number of the good8 ,why1 for one friend1 has ,god ten thousand enemies1 in a world1 which it depended entirely upon him to people with honest men8 ,if it be true1 that1 in heaven1 ,god designs to form a court of saints1 of elect1 or of men who shall have lived upon earth conformably to his views1 would he not have had a more numerous1 brilliant1 and honourable assembly1 had he composed it of all men1 to whom1 in creating them1 he could grant the degree of goodness1 necessary to attain eternal happiness8 ,finally1 would it not have been shorter not to have made man1 than to have created him a being full of faults1 rebellious to his creator1 perpetually exposed to cause his own destruction by a fatal abuse of his liberty8 ,instead of creating men1 a perfect ,god ought to have created only angels very docile and submissive4 ,angels1 it is said1 are free2 some have sinned2 but1 at any rate1 all have not abused their liberty by revolting against their master4 ,could not ,god have created only angels of the good kind8 ,if ,god has created angels1 who have not sinned1 could he not have created impeccable men1 or men who should never abuse their liberty8 ,if the elect are incapable of sinning in heaven1 could not ,god have made impeccable men upon earth8 #gg4 ,divines never fail to persuade us1 that the enormous distance which separates ,god and man1 necessarily renders the conduct of ,god a mystery to us1 and that we have no right to interrogate our master4 ,is this answer satisfactory8 ,since my eternal happiness is at stake1 have ,i not a right to examine the conduct of ,god himself8 ,it is only in hope of happiness that men submit to the authority of a ,god4 ,a despot1 to whom men submit only through fear1 a master1 whom they cannot interrogate1 a sovereign totally inaccessible1 can never merit the homage of intelligent beings4 ,if the conduct of ,god is a mystery1 it is not made for us4 ,man can neither adore1 admire1 respect1 nor imitate conduct1 in which every thing is inconceivable1 or1 of which he can often form only revolting ideas2 unless it is pretended1 that we ought to adore every thing of which we are forced to be ignorant1 and that every thing1 which we do not know1 becomes for that reason an object of admiration4 ,divines6 ,you never cease telling us1 that the designs of ,god are impenetrable2 that his ways are not our ways1 nor his thoughts our thoughts2 that it is absurd to complain of his administration1 of the motives and springs of which we are totally ignorant2 that it is presumption to tax his judgments with injustice1 because we cannot comprehend them4 ,but when you speak in this strain1 do you not perceive1 that you destroy with your own hands all your profound systems1 whose only end is to explain to us the ways of the divinity1 which1 you say1 are impenetrable8 ,have you penetrated his judgments1 his ways1 his designs8 ,you dare not assert it1 and though you reason about them without end1 you do not comprehend them any more than we do4 ,if1 by chance1 you know the plan of ,god1 which you wish us to admire1 while most people find it so little worthy of a just1 good1 intelligent1 and reasonable being1 no longer say1 this plan is impenetrable4 ,if you are as ignorant of it as we are1 have some indulgence for those who ingenuously confess1 they comprehend nothing in it1 or that they see in it nothing divine4 ,cease to persecute for opinions1 of which you understand nothing yourselves2 cease to defame each other for dreams and conjectures1 which every thing seems to contradict4 ,talk to us of things intelligible and really useful to men2 and no longer talk to us of the impenetrable ways of ,god1 about which you only stammer and contradict yourselves4 ,by continually speaking of the immense depths of divine wisdom1 forbidding us to sound them1 saying it is insolence to cite ,god before the tribunal of our feeble reason1 making it a crime to judge our master1 divines teach us nothing but the embarrassment they are in1 when it is required to account for the conduct of a ,god1 whose conduct they think marvellous only because they are utterly incapable of comprehending it themselves4 #gh4 ,physical evil is commonly regarded as a punishment for sin4 ,diseases1 famines1 wars1 earthquakes1 are means which ,god uses to chastise wicked men4 ,thus1 they make no scruple of attributing these evils to the severity of a just and good ,god4 ,but1 do not these scourges fall indiscriminately upon the good and bad1 upon the impious and devout1 upon the innocent and guilty8 ,how1 in this proceeding1 would they have us admire the justice and goodness of a being1 the idea of whom seems comforting to so many wretches1 whose brain must undoubtedly be disordered by their misfortunes1 since they forget1 that their ,god is the arbiter1 the sole disposer of the events of this world4 ,this being the case1 ought they not to impute their sufferings to him1 into whose arms they fly for comfort8 ,unfortunate father6 ,thou consolest thyself in the bosom of ,providence1 for the loss of a dear child1 or beloved wife1 who made thy happiness4 ,alas6 ,dost thou not see1 that thy ,god has killed them8 ,thy ,god has rendered thee miserable1 and thou desirest thy ,god to comfort thee for the dreadful afflictions he has sent thee6 ,the chimerical or supernatural notions of theology have so succeeded in destroying1 in the minds of men1 the most simple1 dear1 and natural ideas1 that the devout1 unable to accuse ,god of malice1 accustom themselves to regard the several strokes of fate as indubitable proofs of celestial goodness4 ,when in affliction1 they are ordered to believe that ,god loves them1 that ,god visits them1 that ,god wishes to try them4 ,thus religion has attained the art of converting evil into good6 ,a profane person said with reason--,if ,god ,almighty thus treats those whom he loves1 ,i earnestly beseech him never to think of me4 ,men must have received very gloomy and cruel ideas of their ,god1 who is called so good1 to believe that the most dreadful calamities and piercing afflictions are marks of his favour6 ,would an evil genius1 a demon1 be more ingenious in tormenting his enemies1 than the ,god of goodness sometimes is1 who so often exercises his severity upon his dearest friends8 #gi4 ,what shall we say of a father1 who1 we are assured1 watches without intermission over the preservation and happiness of his weak and short-sighted children1 and who yet leaves them at liberty to wander at random among rocks1 precipices1 and waters2 who rarely hinders them from following their inordinate appetites2 who permits them to handle1 without precaution1 murderous arms1 at the risk of their life8 ,what should we think of the same father1 if1 instead of imputing to himself the evil that happens to his poor children1 he should punish them for their wanderings in the most cruel manner8 ,we should say1 with reason1 that this father is a madman1 who unites injustice to folly4 ,a ,god1 who punishes faults1 which he could have prevented1 is a being deficient in wisdom1 goodness1 and equity4 ,a foreseeing ,god would prevent evil1 and thereby avoid having to punish it4 ,a good ,god would not punish weaknesses1 which he knew to be inherent in human nature4 ,a just ,god1 if he made man1 would not punish him for not being made strong enough to resist his desires4 ,to punish weakness is the most unjust tyranny4 ,is it not calumniating a just ,god1 to say1 that he punishes men for their faults1 even in the present life8 ,how could he punish beings1 whom it belonged to him alone to reform1 and who1 while they have not grace1 cannot act otherwise than they do8 ,according to the principles of theologians themselves1 man1 in his present state of corruption1 can do nothing but evil1 since1 without divine grace1 he is never able to do good4 ,now1 if the nature of man1 left to itself1 or destitute of divine aid1 necessarily determines him to evil1 or renders him incapable of good1 what becomes of the free-will of man8 ,according to such principles1 man can neither merit nor demerit4 ,by rewarding man for the good he does1 ,god would only reward himself2 by punishing man for the evil he does1 ,god would punish him for not giving him grace1 without which he could not possibly do better4 #hj4 ,theologians repeatedly tell us1 that man is free1 while all their principles conspire to destroy his liberty4 ,by endeavouring to justify the ,divinity1 they in reality accuse him of the blackest injustice4 ,they suppose1 that without grace1 man is necessitated to do evil4 ,they affirm1 that ,god will punish him1 because ,god has not given him grace to do good6 ,little reflection will suffice to convince us1 that man is necessitated in all his actions1 that his free will is a chimera1 even in the system of theologians4 ,does it depend upon man to be born of such or such parents8 ,does it depend upon man to imbibe or not to imbibe the opinions of his parents or instructors8 ,if ,i had been born of idolatrous or ,mahometan parents1 would it have depended upon me to become a ,christian8 ,yet1 divines gravely assure us1 that a just ,god will damn without pity all those1 to whom he has not given grace to know the ,christian religion6 ,man's birth is wholly independent of his choice4 ,he is not asked whether he is willing1 or not1 to come into the world4 ,nature does not consult him upon the country and parents she gives him4 ,his acquired ideas1 his opinions1 his notions true or false1 are necessary fruits of the education which he has received1 and of which he has not been the director4 ,his passions and desires are necessary consequences of the temperament given him by nature4 ,during his whole life1 his volitions and actions are determined by his connections1 habits1 occupations1 pleasures1 and conversations2 by the thoughts1 that are involuntarily presented to his mind2 in a word1 by a multitude of events and accidents1 which it is out of his power to foresee or prevent4 ,incapable of looking into futurity1 he knows not what he will do4 ,from the instant of his birth to that of his death1 he is never free4 ,you will say1 that he wills1 deliberates1 chooses1 determines2 and you will hence conclude1 that his actions are free4 ,it is true1 that man wills1 but he is not master of his will or his desires2 he can desire and will only what he judges advantageous to himself2 he can neither love pain1 nor detest pleasure4 ,it will be said1 that he sometimes prefers pain to pleasure2 but then he prefers a momentary pain with a view of procuring a greater and more durable pleasure4 ,in this case1 the prospect of a greater good necessarily determines him to forego a less considerable good4 ,the lover does not give his mistress the features which captivate him2 he is not then master of loving1 or not loving the object of his tenderness2 he is not master of his imagination or temperament4 ,whence it evidently follows1 that man is not master of his volitions and desires4 ,but man1 you will say1 can resist his desires2 therefore he is free4 ,man resists his desires1 when the motives1 which divert him from an object1 are stronger than those1 which incline him towards it2 but then his resistance is necessary4 ,a man1 whose fear of dishonour or punishment is greater than his love of money1 necessarily resists the desire of stealing4 ,are we not free1 when we deliberate8 ,but1 are we masters of knowing or not knowing1 of being in doubt or certainty8 ,deliberation is a necessary effect of our uncertainty respecting the consequences of our actions4 ,when we are sure1 or think we are sure1 of these consequences1 we necessarily decide1 and we then act necessarily according to our true or false judgment4 ,our judgments1 true or false1 are not free2 they are necessarily determined by the ideas1 we have received1 or which our minds have formed4 ,man is not free in his choice2 he is evidently necessitated to choose what he judges most useful and agreeable4 ,neither is he free1 when he suspends his choice2 he is forced to suspend it until he knows1 or thinks he knows1 the qualities of the objects presented to him1 or1 until he has weighed the consequences of his actions4 ,man1 you will say1 often decides in favour of actions1 which he knows must be detrimental to himself2 man sometimes kills himself2 therefore he is free4 ,i deny it4 ,is man master of reasoning well or ill8 ,do not his reason and wisdom depend upon the opinions he has formed1 or upon the conformation of his machine8 ,as neither one nor the other depends upon his will1 they are no proof of liberty4 ,if ,i lay a wager1 that ,i shall do1 or not do a thing1 am ,i not free8 ,does it not depend upon me to do it or not8 ,no1 ,i answer2 the desire of winning the wager will necessarily determine you to do1 or not to do the thing in question4 ,but1 supposing ,i consent to lose the wager8 ,then the desire of proving to me1 that you are free1 will have become a stronger motive than the desire of winning the wager2 and this motive will have necessarily determined you to do1 or not to do1 the thing in question4 ,but1 you will say1 ,i feel free4 ,this is an illusion1 that may be compared to that of the fly in the fable1 who1 lighting upon the pole of a heavy carriage1 applauded himself for directing its course4 ,man1 who thinks himself free1 is a fly1 who imagines he has power to move the universe1 while he is himself unknowingly carried along by it4 ,the inward persuasion that we are free to do1 or not to do a thing1 is but a mere illusion4 ,if we trace the true principle of our actions1 we shall find1 that they are always necessary consequences of our volitions and desires1 which are never in our power4 ,you think yourself free1 because you do what you will2 but are you free to will1 or not to will2 to desire1 or not to desire8 ,are not your volitions and desires necessarily excited by objects or qualities totally independent of you8 #ha4 ,if the actions of men are necessary1 if men are not free1 by what right does society punish criminals8 ,is it not very unjust to chastise beings1 who could not act otherwise than they have done8 ,if the wicked act necessarily according to the impulses of their evil nature1 society1 in punishing them1 acts necessarily by the desire of self-preservation4 ,certain objects necessarily produce in us the sensation of pain2 our nature then forces us against them1 and avert them from us4 ,a tiger1 pressed by hunger1 springs upon the man1 whom he wishes to devour2 but this man is not master of his fear1 and necessarily seeks means to destroy the tiger4 #hb4 ,if every thing be necessary1 the errors1 opinions1 and ideas of men are fatal2 and1 if so1 how or why should we attempt to reform them8 ,the errors of men are necessary consequences of ignorance4 ,their ignorance1 prejudice1 and credulity are necessary consequences of their inexperience1 negligence1 and want of reflection1 in the same manner as delirium or lethargy are necessary effects of certain diseases4 ,truth1 experience1 reflection1 and reason1 are remedies calculated to cure ignorance1 fanaticism and follies4 ,but1 you will ask1 why does not truth produce this effect upon many disordered minds8 ,it is because some diseases resist all remedies2 because it is impossible to cure obstinate patients1 who refuse the remedies presented to them2 because the interest of some men1 and the folly of others1 necessarily oppose the admission of truth4 ,a cause produces its effect only when its action is not interrupted by stronger causes1 which then weakens or render useless1 the action of the former4 ,it is impossible that the best arguments should be adopted by men1 who are interested in error1 prejudiced in its favour1 and who decline all reflection2 but truth must necessarily undeceive honest minds1 who seek her sincerely4 ,truth is a cause2 it necessarily produces its effects1 when its impulse is not intercepted by causes1 which suspend its effects4 #hc4 ,to deprive man of his free will1 it is said1 makes him a mere machine1 an automaton4 ,without liberty1 he will no longer have either merit or virtue4 ,what is merit in man8 ,it is a manner of acting1 which renders him estimable in the eyes of his fellow-beings4 ,what is virtue8 ,it is a disposition1 which inclines us to do good to others4 ,what can there be contemptible in machines1 or automatons1 capable of producing effects so desirable8 ,marcus ,aurelius was useful to the vast ,roman ,empire4 ,by what right would a machine despise a machine1 whose springs facilitate its action8 ,good men are springs1 which second society in its tendency to happiness2 the wicked are ill-formed springs1 which disturb the order1 progress1 and harmony of society4 ,if1 for its own utility1 society cherishes and rewards the good1 it also harasses and destroys the wicked1 as useless or hurtful4 #hd4 ,the world is a necessary agent4 ,all the beings1 that compose it1 are united to each other1 and cannot act otherwise than they do1 so long as they are moved by the same causes1 and endued with the same properties4 ,when they lose properties1 they will necessarily act in a different way4 ,god himself1 admitting his existence1 cannot be considered a free agent4 ,if there existed a ,god1 his manner of acting would necessarily be determined by the properties inherent in his nature2 nothing would be capable of arresting or altering his will4 ,this being granted1 neither our actions1 prayers1 nor sacrifices could suspend1 or change his invariable conduct and immutable designs2 whence we are forced to infer1 that all religion would be useless4 #he4 ,were not divines in perpetual contradiction with themselves1 they would see1 that1 according to their hypothesis1 man cannot be reputed free an instant4 ,do they not suppose man continually dependent on his ,god8 ,are we free1 when we cannot exist and be preserved without ,god1 and when we cease to exist at the pleasure of his supreme will8 ,if ,god has made man out of nothing2 if his preservation is a continued creation2 if ,god cannot1 an instant1 lose sight of his creature2 if whatever happens to him1 is an effect of the divine will2 if man can do nothing of himself2 if all the events1 which he experiences1 are effects of the divine decrees2 if he does no good without grace from on high1 how can they maintain1 that a man enjoys a moment's liberty8 ,if ,god did not preserve him in the moment of sin1 how could man sin8 ,if ,god then preserves him1 ,god forces him to exist1 that he may sin4 #hf4 ,the ,divinity is frequently compared to a king1 whose revolted subjects are the greater part of mankind2 and it is said1 he has a right to reward the subjects who remain faithful to him1 and to punish the rebellious4 ,this comparison is not just in any of its parts4 ,god presides over a machine1 every spring of which he has created4 ,these springs act agreeable to the manner1 in which ,god has formed them2 he ought to impute it to his own unskilfulness1 if these springs do not contribute to the harmony of the machine1 into which it was his will to insert them4 ,god is a created king1 who has created to himself subjects of every description2 who has formed them according to his own pleasure whose will can never find resistance4 ,if ,god has rebellious subjects in his empire1 it is because ,god has resolved to have rebellious subjects4 ,if the sins of men disturb the order of the world1 it is because it is the will of ,god that this order should be disturbed4 ,nobody dares to call in question the divine justice2 yet1 under the government of a just ,god1 we see nothing but acts of injustice and violence4 ,force decides the fate of nations1 equity seems banished from the earth2 a few men sport1 unpunished1 with the peace1 property1 liberty1 and life of others4 ,all is disorder in a world governed by a ,god who is said to be infinitely displeased with disorder4 #hg4 ,although men are for ever admiring the wisdom1 goodness1 justice1 and beautiful order of ,providence1 they are1 in reality1 never satisfied with it4 ,do not the prayers1 continually addressed to heaven1 shew1 that men are by no means satisfied with the divine dispensations8 ,to pray to ,god for a favour1 shews diffidence of his watchful care2 to pray to him to avert or put an end to an evil1 is to endeavour to obstruct the course of his justice2 to implore the assistance of ,god in our calamities1 is to address the author himself of these calamities1 to represent to him1 that he ought1 for our sake1 to rectify his plan1 which does not accord with our interest4 ,the ,optimist1 or he who maintains that all is well1 and who incessantly cries that we live in the best world possible1 to be consistent1 should never pray2 neither ought he to expect another world1 where man will be happier4 ,can there be a better world than the best world possible8 ,some theologians have treated the ,optimists as impious1 for having intimated that ,god could not produce a better world1 than that in which we live4 ,according to these doctors1 it is to limit the power of ,god1 and to offer him insult4 ,but do not these divines see1 that it shews much less indignity to ,god1 to assert that he has done his best in producing this world1 than to say1 that1 being able to produce a better1 he has had malice enough to produce a very bad one8 ,if the ,optimist1 by his system1 detracts from the divine power1 the theologian1 who treats him as a blasphemer1 is himself a blasphemer1 who offends the goodness of ,god in espousing the cause of his omnipotence4 #hh4 ,when we complain of the evils1 of which our world is the theatre1 we are referred to the other world1 where it is said1 ,god will make reparation for all the iniquity and misery1 which1 for a time1 he permits here below4 ,but if ,god1 suffering his eternal justice to remain at rest for a long time1 could consent to evil during the whole continuance of our present world1 what assurance have we1 that1 during the continuance of another world1 divine justice will not1 in like manner1 sleep over the misery of its inhabitants8 ,the divines console us for our sufferings by saying1 that ,god is patient1 and that his justice1 though often slow1 is not the less sure4 ,but do they not see1 that patience is incompatible with a just1 immutable1 and omnipotent being8 ,can ,god then permit injustice1 even for an instant8 ,to temporize with a known evil1 announces either weakness1 uncertainty1 or collusion4 ,to tolerate evil1 when one has power to prevent it1 is to consent to the commission of evil4 #hi4 ,divines every where exclaim1 that ,god is infinitely just2 but that his justice is not the justice of man4 ,of what kind or nature then is this divine justice8 ,what idea can ,i form of a justice1 which so often resembles injustice8 ,is it not to confound all ideas of just and unjust1 to say1 that what is equitable in ,god is iniquitous in his creatures8 ,how can we receive for our model a being1 whose divine perfections are precisely the reverse of human8 ,god1 it is said1 is sovereign arbiter of our destinies4 ,his supreme power1 which nothing can limit1 justly permits him to do with the works of his own hands according to his good pleasure4 ,a worm1 like man1 has no right even to complain4 ,this arrogant style is evidently borrowed from the language1 used by the ministers of tyrants1 when they stop the mouths of those who suffer from their violences4 ,it cannot then be the language of the ministers of a ,god1 whose equity is highly extolled2 it is not made to be imposed upon a being1 who reasons4 ,ministers of a just ,god6 ,i will inform you then1 that the greatest power cannot confer upon your ,god himself the right of being unjust even to the vilest of his creatures4 ,a despot is not a ,god4 ,a ,god1 who arrogates to himself the right of doing evil1 is a tyrant2 a tyrant is not a model for men2 he must be an object execrable to their eyes4 ,is it not indeed strange1 that in order to justify the ,divinity1 they make him every moment the most unjust of beings6 ,as soon as we complain of his conduct1 they think to silence us by alleging1 that ,god is master2 which signifies1 that ,god1 being the strongest1 is not bound by ordinary rules4 ,but the right of the strongest is the violation of all rights4 ,it seems right only to the eyes of a savage conqueror1 who in the heat of his fury imagines1 that he may do whatever he pleases with the unfortunate victims1 whom he has conquered4 ,this barbarous right can appear legitimate only to slaves blind enough to believe that everything is lawful to tyrants whom they feel too weak to resist4 ,in the greatest calamities1 do not devout persons1 through a ridiculous simplicity1 or rather a sensible contradiction in terms1 exclaim1 that the ,almighty is master4 ,thus1 inconsistent reasoners1 believe1 that the ,almighty 7a ,being1 one of whose first attributes is goodness17 sends you pestilence1 war1 and famine6 ,you believe that the ,almighty1 this good being1 has the will and right to inflict the greatest evils1 you can bear6 ,cease1 at least1 to call your ,god good1 when he does you evil2 say not1 that he is just1 say that he is the strongest1 and that it is impossible for you to ward off the blows of his caprice4 ,god1 say you1 chastises only for our good4 ,but what real good can result to a people from being exterminated by the plague1 ravaged by wars1 corrupted by the examples of perverse rulers1 continually crushed under the iron sceptre of a succession of merciless tyrants1 annihilated by the scourges of a bad government1 whose destructive effects are often felt for ages8 ,if chastisements are good1 then they cannot have too much of a good thing6 ,the eyes of faith must be strange eyes1 if with them they see advantages in the most dreadful calamities1 in the vices and follies with which our species are afflicted4 #ij4 ,what strange ideas of divine justice must ,christians have1 who are taught to believe1 that their ,god1 in view of reconciling to himself the human race1 guilty1 though unconscious1 of the sin of their fathers1 has put to death his own son1 who was innocent and incapable of sinning8 ,what should we say of a king1 whose subjects should revolt1 and who1 to appease himself1 should find no other expedient than to put to death the heir of his crown1 who had not participated in the general rebellion8 ,it is1 the ,christian will say1 through goodness to his subjects1 unable of themselves to satisfy divine justice1 that ,god has consented to the cruel death of his son4 ,but the goodness of a father to strangers does not give him the right of being unjust and barbarous to his own son4 ,all the qualities1 which theology ascribes to ,god1 reciprocally destroy one another4 ,the exercise of one of his perfections is always at the expense of the exercise of another4 ,has the ,jew more rational ideas of divine justice than the ,christian8 ,the pride of a king kindles the anger of heaven2 ,jehovah causes the pestilence to descend upon his innocent people2 seventy thousand subjects are exterminated to expiate the fault of a monarch1 whom the goodness of ,god resolved to spare4 #ia4 ,notwithstanding the various acts of injustice1 with which all religions delight to blacken the ,divinity1 men cannot consent to accuse him of iniquity4 ,they fear1 that1 like the tyrants of this world1 truth will offend him1 and redouble upon them the weight of his malice and tyranny4 ,they hearken therefore to their priests1 who tell them1 that their ,god is a tender father2 that this ,god is an equitable monarch whose object in this world is to assure himself of the love1 obedience and respect of his subjects2 who gives them liberty of acting only to afford them an opportunity of meriting his favours1 and of acquiring an eternal happiness1 which he does not owe them4 ,by what signs can men discover the tenderness of a father1 who has given life to the greater part of his children merely to drag out upon the earth a painful1 restless1 bitter existence8 ,is there a more unfortunate present1 than that pretended liberty1 which1 we are told1 men are very liable to abuse1 and thereby to incur eternal misery8 #ib4 ,by calling mortals to life1 what a cruel and dangerous part has not the ,deity forced them to act8 ,thrown into the world without their consent1 provided with a temperament of which they are not masters1 animated by passions and desires inherent in their nature1 exposed to snares which they have not power to escape1 hurried away by events which they could not foresee or prevent1 unhappy mortals are compelled to run a career1 which may lead them to punishments horrible in duration and violence4 ,travellers inform us1 that1 in ,asia1 a ,sultan reigned1 full of fantastical ideas1 and very absolute in his whims4 ,by a strange madness1 this prince spent his time seated at a table1 upon which were placed three dice and a dice-box4 ,one end of the table was covered with pieces of silver1 designed to excite the avarice of his courtiers and people4 ,he1 knowing the foible of his subjects1 addresses them as follows3 ,slaves1 ,i wish your happiness4 ,my goodness proposes to enrich you1 and make you all happy4 ,do you see these treasures8 ,well1 they are for you2 strive to gain them2 let each1 in his turn1 take the box and dice2 whoever has the fortune to throw sixes1 shall be master of the treasure4 ,but1 ,i forewarn you1 that he who has not the happiness to throw the number required1 shall be precipitated for ever into a dark dungeon1 where my justice demands that he be burned with a slow fire4 ,upon this discourse of the monarch1 the company look at each other affrighted4 ,no one wishes to expose himself to so dangerous a chance4 ,what6 says the enraged ,sultan1 does no one offer to play8 ,i tell you then you must2 ,my glory requires that you should play4 ,play then2 obey without replying4 ,it is well to observe1 that the dice of the despot are so prepared1 that out of a hundred thousand throws1 there is but one1 which can gain the number required4 ,thus the generous monarch has the pleasure of seeing his prison well filled1 and his riches seldom ravished from him4 ,mortals6 this ,,sultan is your ,,god2 his ,,treasure ,,is ,,heaven2 his ,,dungeon ,,is ,,hell1 and it is you who hold the ,,dice6 #ic4 ,divines repeatedly assure us1 that we owe ,providence infinite gratitude for the numberless blessings it bestows4 ,they loudly extol the happiness of existence4 ,but1 alas6 how many mortals are truly satisfied with their mode of existence8 ,if life has sweets1 with how much bitterness is it not mixed8 ,does not a single chagrin often suffice suddenly to poison the most peaceable and fortunate life8 ,are there many1 who1 if it were in their power would begin again1 at the same price1 the painful career1 in which1 without their consent1 destiny has placed them8 ,they say1 that existence is a great blessing4 ,but is not this existence continually troubled with fears1 and maladies1 often cruel and little deserved8 ,may not this existence1 threatened on so many sides1 be torn from us any moment8 ,where is the man1 who has not been deprived of a dear wife1 beloved child1 or consoling friend1 whose loss every moment intrudes upon his thoughts8 ,there are few1 who have not been forced to drink of the cup of misfortune2 there are few1 who have not desired their end4 ,finally1 it did not depend upon us to exist or not to exist4 ,should the bird then be very grateful to the fowler for taking him in his net and confining him in his cage for his diversion8 #id4 ,notwithstanding the infirmities and misery which man is forced to undergo1 he has1 nevertheless1 the folly to think himself the favourite of his ,god1 the object of all his cares1 the sole end of all his works4 ,he imagines1 that the whole universe is made for him2 he arrogantly calls himself the king of nature1 and values himself far above other animals4 ,mortal6 upon what canst thou found thy haughty pretensions8 ,it is1 sayest thou1 upon thy soul1 upon thy reason1 upon the sublime faculties1 which enable thee to exercise an absolute empire over the beings1 which surround thee4 ,but1 weak sovereign of the world2 art thou sure1 one moment1 of the continuance of thy reign8 ,do not the smallest atoms of matter1 which thou despisest1 suffice to tear thee from thy throne1 and deprive thee of life8 ,finally1 does not the king of animals at last become the food of worms8 ,thou speakest of thy soul6 ,but dost thou know what a soul is8 ,dost thou not see1 that this soul is only the assemblage of thy organs1 from which results life8 ,wouldst thou then refuse a soul to other animals1 who live1 think1 judge1 and compare1 like thee2 who seek pleasure1 and avoid pain1 like thee2 and who often have organs1 which serve them better than thine8 ,thou boastest of thy intellectual faculties2 but do these faculties1 of which thou art so proud1 make thee happier than other animals8 ,dost thou often make use of that reason1 in which thou gloriest1 and to which religion commands thee not to listen8 ,are those brutes1 which thou disdainest1 because they are less strong or less cunning than thou art1 subject to mental pains1 to a thousand frivolous passions1 to a thousand imaginary wants1 to which thou art a continual prey8 ,are they1 like thee1 tormented by the past1 alarmed at the future8 ,confined solely to the present1 does not what you call their instinct1 and what ,i call their intelligence1 suffice to preserve and defend them1 and to supply them with all they want8 ,does not this instinct1 of which thou speakest with contempt1 often serve them better than thy wonderful faculties8 ,is not their peaceful ignorance more advantageous to them1 than those extravagant meditations and worthless researches1 which render thee unhappy1 and for which thy zeal urges thee even to massacre the beings of thy noble species8 ,finally1 have these beasts1 like so many mortals1 a troubled imagination1 which makes them fear1 not only death1 but likewise eternal torments8 ,augustus1 hearing that ,herod1 king of ,judea1 had put his sons to death1 exclaimed3 ,it is much better to be ,herod's hog1 than his son4 ,as much may be said of man4 ,this dear child of ,providence runs far greater risks than all other animals2 having suffered much in this world1 does he not imagine1 that he is in danger of suffering eternally in another8 #ie4 ,where is the precise line of distinction between man and the animals whom he calls brutes8 ,in what does he differ essentially from beasts8 ,it is1 we are told1 by his intelligence1 by the faculties of his mind1 and by his reason1 that man appears superior to all other animals1 who1 in all their actions1 move only by physical impulses1 in which reason has no share4 ,but finally1 brutes1 having fewer wants than man1 easily do without his intellectual faculties1 which would be perfectly useless in their mode of existence4 ,their instinct is sufficient2 while all the faculties of man scarcely suffice to render his existence supportable1 and to satisfy the wants1 which his imagination and his prejudices multiply to his torment4 ,brutes are not influenced by the same objects1 as man2 they have not the same wants1 desires1 nor fancies2 and they very soon arrive to maturity1 while the mind of man seldom attains to the full enjoyment and free exercise of its faculties and to such a use of them1 as is conducive to his happiness4 #if4 ,we are assured1 that the human soul is a simple substance4 ,it should then be the same in every individual1 each having the same intellectual faculties2 yet this is not the case4 ,men differ as much in the qualities of the mind1 as in the features of the face4 ,there are human beings as different from one another1 as man is from a horse or a dog4 ,what conformity or resemblance do we find between some men8 ,what an infinite distance is there between the genius of a ,locke or a ,newton1 and that of a peasant1 ,hottentot1 or ,laplander8 ,man differs from other animals only in his organization1 which enables him to produce effects1 of which animals are not capable4 ,the variety1 observable in the organs of individuals of the human species suffices to explain the differences in what is called their intellectual faculties4 ,more or less delicacy in these organs1 warmth in the blood1 mobility in the fluids1 flexibility or stiffness in the fibres and nerves1 must necessarily produce the infinite diversity1 which we observe in the minds of men4 ,it is by exercise1 habit and education1 that the mind is unfolded and becomes superior to that of others4 ,man1 without culture and experience1 is as void of reason and industry1 as the brute4 ,a stupid man is one1 whose organs move with difficulty1 whose brain does not easily vibrate1 whose blood circulates slowly4 ,a man of genius is he1 whose organs are flexible1 whose sensations are quick1 whose brain vibrates with celerity4 ,a learned man is he1 whose organs and brain have been long exercised upon objects to which he is devoted4 ,without culture1 experience1 or reason1 is not man more contemptible and worthy of hatred1 than the vilest insects or most ferocious beasts8 ,is there in nature a more detestable being1 than a ,tiberius1 a ,nero1 or a ,caligula8 ,have those destroyers of the human race1 known by the name of conquerors1 more estimable souls than bears1 lions1 or panthers8 ,are there animals in the world more detestable than tyrants8 #ig4 ,the superiority which man so gratuitously arrogates to himself over other animals1 soon vanishes in the light of reason1 when we reflect on human extravagances4 ,how many animals shew more mildness1 reflection1 and reason1 than the animal1 who calls himself reasonable above all others8 ,are there among men1 so often enslaved and oppressed1 societies as well constituted as those of the ants1 bees1 or beavers8 ,do we ever see ferocious beasts of the same species mangle and destroy one another without profit8 ,do we ever see religious wars among them8 ,the cruelty of beasts towards other species arises from hunger1 the necessity of nourishment2 the cruelty of man towards man arises only from the vanity of his masters and the folly of his impertinent prejudices4 ,speculative men1 who endeavour to make us believe1 that all in the universe was made for man1 are much embarrassed1 when we ask1 how so many hurtful animals can contribute to the happiness of man8 ,what known advantage results to the friend of the gods1 from being bitten by a viper1 stung by a gnat1 devoured by vermin1 torn in pieces by a tiger1 etc48 ,would not all these animals reason as justly as our theologians1 should they pretend that man was made for them8 #ih4 ,,an ,,eastern ,,tale4 ,at some distance from ,bagdad1 a hermit1 renowned for his sanctity1 passed his days in an agreeable solitude4 ,the neighbouring inhabitants1 to obtain an interest in his prayers1 daily flocked to his hermitage1 to carry him provisions and presents4 ,the holy man1 without ceasing1 gave thanks to ,god for the blessings1 with which providence loaded him4 ,o ,allah6 said he1 how ineffable is thy love to thy servants4 ,what have ,i done to merit the favours1 that ,i receive from thy bounty8 ,o ,monarch of the skies6 ,o ,father of nature6 what praises could worthily celebrate thy munificence1 and thy paternal care6 ,o ,allah6 how great is thy goodness to the children of men6 ,penetrated with gratitude1 the hermit made a vow to undertake1 for the seventh time1 a pilgrimage to ,mecca4 ,the war which then raged between the ,persians and ,turks1 could not induce him to defer his pious enterprise4 ,full of confidence in ,god1 he sets out under the inviolable safeguard of a religious habit4 ,he passes through the hostile troops without any obstacle2 far from being molested1 he receives1 at every step1 marks of veneration from the soldiers of the two parties4 ,at length1 borne down with fatigue1 he is obliged to seek refuge against the rays of a scorching sun2 he rests under the cool shade of a group of palm-trees4 ,in this solitary place1 the man of ,god finds not only an enchanting retreat1 but a delicious repast4 ,he has only to put forth his hand to gather dates and other pleasant fruits2 a brook affords him the means of quenching his thirst4 ,a green turf invites him to sleep2 upon waking he performs the sacred ablution1 and exclaims in a transport of joy3 ,o ,allah6 how great is thy goodness to the children of men6 ,after this perfect refreshment1 the saint1 full of strength and gaiety1 pursues his way2 it leads him across a smiling country1 which presents to his eyes flowery hillocks1 enamelled meadows1 and trees loaded with fruit4 ,affected by this sight1 he ceases not to adore the rich and liberal hand of providence1 which appears every where providing for the happiness of the human race4 ,going a little farther1 the mountains are pretty difficult to pass2 but having once arrived at the summit1 a hideous spectacle suddenly appears to his view4 ,his soul is filled with horror4 ,he discovers a vast plain laid waste with fire and sword2 he beholds it covered with hundreds of carcases1 the deplorable remains of a bloody battle1 lately fought upon this field4 ,eagles1 vultures1 ravens and wolves were greedily devouring the dead bodies with which the ground was covered4 ,this sight plunges our pilgrim into a gloomy meditation4 ,heaven1 by special favour1 had enabled him to understand the language of beasts4 ,he heard a wolf1 gorged with human flesh1 cry out in the excess of his joy3 ,o ,allah6 how great is thy goodness to the children of wolves4 ,thy provident wisdom takes care to craze the minds of these detestable men1 who are so dangerous to our species4 ,by an effect of thy ,providence1 which watches over thy creatures1 these destroyers cut one another's throats1 and furnish us with sumptuous meals4 ,o ,allah6 how great is thy goodness to the children of wolves6 #ii4 ,a heated imagination sees in the universe only the blessings of heaven2 a calmer mind finds in it both good and evil4 ,i exist1 say you2 but is this existence always a good8 ,behold1 you say1 that sun1 which lights2 this earth1 which for you is covered with crops and verdure2 these flowers1 which bloom to regale your senses2 these trees1 which bend under the weight of delicious fruits2 these pure waters1 which run only to quench your thirst2 those seas1 which embrace the universe to facilitate your commerce2 these animals1 which a foreseeing nature provides for your use4 ,yes2 ,i see all these things1 and ,i enjoy them4 ,but in many climates1 this beautiful sun is almost always hidden2 in others1 its excessive heat torments1 creates storms1 produces frightful diseases1 and parches the fields2 the pastures are without verdure1 the trees without fruit1 the crops are scorched1 the springs are dried up2 ,i can only with difficulty subsist1 and now complain of the cruelties of nature1 which to you always appears so beneficent4 ,if these seas bring me spices1 and useless commodities1 do they not destroy numberless mortals1 who are foolish enough to seek them8 ,the vanity of man persuades him1 that he is the sole center of the universe2 he creates for himself a world and a ,god2 he thinks himself of sufficient consequence to derange nature at his pleasure4 ,but1 concerning other animals1 he reasons like an atheist4 ,does he not imagine1 that the individuals different from his own are automatons unworthy of the blessings of universal providence1 and that brutes cannot be objects of his justice or goodness8 ,mortals regard the happy or unhappy events1 health or sickness1 life or death1 plenty or want1 as rewards or punishments for the right use or abuse of the liberty1 with which they erroneously imagine themselves endowed4 ,do they reason in the same manner concerning the brutes8 ,no4 ,although they see them1 under a just ,god1 enjoy and suffer1 equally subject to health and sickness1 live and die1 like themselves1 it never occurs to them to ask by what crime1 these beasts could have incurred the displeasure of their ,creator8 ,have not men1 blinded by their religious prejudices1 in order to free themselves from embarrassment1 carried their folly so far as to pretend that beasts have no feeling8 ,will men never renounce their foolish pretensions8 ,will they never acknowledge that nature is not made for them8 ,will they never see that nature has placed equality among all beings she has produced8 ,will they never perceive that all organized beings are equally made to be born and die1 enjoy and suffer8 ,finally1 far from having any cause to be puffed up with their mental faculties1 are they not forced to grant1 that these faculties often make them more unhappy than beasts1 in which we find neither opinions1 prejudices1 vanities1 nor follies1 which every moment decide the welfare of man8 #ajj4 ,the superiority which men arrogate over other animals1 is chiefly founded upon their opinion1 that they have the exclusive possession of an immortal soul4 ,but ask them what this soul is1 and they are puzzled4 ,they will say1 it is an unknown substance--a secret power distinct from their bodies--a spirit1 of which they have no idea4 ,ask them how this spirit1 which they suppose to be like their ,god wholly void of extension1 could combine itself with their material bodies1 and they will tell you1 they know nothing about it2 that it is to them a mystery2 that this combination is an effect of the omnipotence of ,god4 ,these are the ideas that men form of the hidden1 or rather imaginary substance1 which they consider as the main spring of all their actions6 ,if the soul is a substance essentially different from the body1 and can have no relation to it1 their union would be1 not a mystery1 but an impossibility4 ,besides1 this soul being of a nature different from the body1 must necessarily act in a different manner2 yet we see that this pretended soul is sensible of the motions experienced by the body1 and that these two substances1 essentially different1 always acts in concert4 ,you will say that this harmony is also a mystery4 ,but ,i will tell you1 that ,i see not my soul1 that ,i know and am sensible of my body only1 that it is this body which feels1 thinks1 judges1 suffers1 and enjoys2 and that all these faculties are necessary results of its own mechanism1 or organization4 #aja4 ,although it is impossible for men to form the least idea of the soul1 or the pretended spirit1 which animates them2 yet they persuade themselves that this unknown soul is exempt from death4 ,every thing proves to them1 that they feel1 that they think1 that they acquire ideas1 that they enjoy and suffer1 only by means of the senses1 or material organs of the body4 ,admitting even the existence of this soul1 they cannot help acknowledging1 that it depends entirely upon the body1 and undergoes1 all its vicissitudes2 and yet it is imagined1 that this soul has nothing1 in its nature1 similar to the body2 that it can act and feel without the assistance of the body2 in a word1 that this soul1 freed from the body1 and disengaged from its senses1 can live1 enjoy1 suffer1 experience happiness1 or feel excruciating torments4 ,upon such a tissue of absurdities is built the marvellous opinion of the immortality of the soul4 ,if ,i ask1 what are the motives for believing the soul immortal1 they immediately answer1 that it is because man naturally desires to be immortal3 but1 because you desire a thing ardently1 can you infer that your desire will be fulfilled8 ,by what strange logic can we dare affirm1 that a thing cannot fail to happen1 because we ardently desire it8 ,are desires1 begotten by the imagination1 the measure of reality8 ,the impious1 you say1 deprived of the flattering hope of another life1 wish to be annihilated4 ,very well3 may they not then as justly conclude1 from their desire1 that they shall be annihilated1 as you may conclude from your desire1 that you shall exist for ever4 #ajb4 ,man dies1 and the human body after death is no longer anything but a mass incapable of producing those motions1 of which the sum total constituted life4 ,we see1 that it has no longer circulation1 respiration1 digestion1 speech1 or thought4 ,it is pretended1 that the soul is then separated from the body2 but to say1 that this soul1 with which we are unacquainted1 is the principle of life1 is to say nothing1 unless that an unknown power is the hidden principle of imperceptible movements4 ,nothing is more natural and simple1 than to believe1 that the dead man no longer lives3 nothing is more extravagant1 than to believe1 that the dead man is still alive4 ,we laugh at the simplicity of some nations1 whose custom is to bury provision with the dead1 under an idea that it will be useful and necessary to them in the other life4 ,is it then more ridiculous or absurd to suppose1 that men will eat after death1 than to imagine1 that they will think1 that they will be actuated by agreeable or disagreeable ideas1 that they will enjoy or suffer1 and that they will experience repentance or delight1 after the organs1 adapted to produce sensations or ideas1 are once dissolved4 ,to say that the souls of men will be happy or unhappy after death1 is in other words to say1 that men will see without eyes1 hear without ears1 taste without palates1 smell without noses1 and touch without hands4 ,and persons1 who consider themselves very reasonable1 adopt these ideas6 #ajc4 ,the dogma of the immortality of the soul supposes the soul to be a simple substance2 in a word1 a spirit4 ,but ,i ask again1 what is a spirit8 ,it is1 say you1 a substance void of extension1 incorruptible1 having nothing common with matter4 ,if so1 how is your soul born1 and how does it grow1 how does it strengthen or weaken itself1 how does it get disordered and grow old1 in the same progression as your body8 ,to all these questions you answer1 that these are mysteries4 ,if so1 you cannot understand them4 ,if you cannot understand them1 why do you decide about a thing1 of which you are unable to form the least idea8 ,to believe or affirm any thing1 it is necessary1 at least1 to know in what it consists4 ,to believe in the existence of your immaterial soul1 is to say1 that you are persuaded of the existence of a thing1 of which it is impossible for you to form any true notion2 it is to believe in words without meaning4 ,to affirm that the thing is as you say1 is the height of folly or vanity4 #ajd4 ,are not theologians strange reasoners8 ,whenever they cannot divine the natural causes of things1 they invent what they call supernatural2 such as spirits1 occult causes1 inexplicable agents1 or rather words1 much more obscure than the things they endeavour to explain4 ,let us remain in nature1 when we wish to account for the phenomena of nature2 let us be content to remain ignorant of causes too delicate for our organs2 and let us be persuaded1 that1 by going beyond nature1 we shall never solve the problems which nature presents4 ,even upon the hypothesis of theology1 7that is1 supposing an all-powerful mover of matter17 by what right would theologians deny1 that their ,god has power to give this matter the faculty of thought8 ,was it then more difficult for him to create combinations of matter1 from which thought might result1 than spirits who could think8 ,at least1 by supposing matter1 which thinks1 we should have some notions of the subject of thought1 or of what thinks in us2 whereas1 by attributing thought to an immaterial being1 it is impossible to form the least idea of it4 #aje4 ,it is objected against us1 that materialism makes man a mere machine1 which is said to be very dishonourable4 ,but1 will it be much more honourable for man1 if we should say1 that he acts by the secret impulses of a spirit1 or by a certain ,i know not what1 that animates him in a manner totally inexplicable4 ,it is easy to perceive1 that the supposed superiority of spirit over matter1 or of the soul over the body1 has no other foundation than men's ignorance of this soul1 while they are more familiarized with matter1 with which they imagine they are acquainted1 and of which they think they can discern the origin4 ,but the most simple movements of our bodies are to every man1 who studies them1 as inexplicable as thought4 #ajf4 ,the high value1 which so many people set upon spiritual substance1 has no other motive than their absolute inability to define it intelligibly4 ,the contempt shewn for matter by our metaphysicians1 arises only from the circumstance1 that familiarity begets contempt4 ,when they tell us1 that the soul is more excellent and noble than the body1 they say what they know not4 #ajg4 ,the dogma of another life is incessantly extolled1 as useful4 ,it is maintained1 that even though it should be only a fiction1 it is advantageous1 because it deceives men1 and conducts them to virtue4 ,but is it true1 that this dogma makes men wiser and more virtuous8 ,are the nations1 who believe this fiction1 remarkable for purity of morals8 ,has not the visible world ever the advantage over the invisible8 ,if those1 who are trusted with the instruction and government of men1 had knowledge and virtue themselves1 they would govern them much better by realities1 than by fictions4 ,but crafty1 ambitious and corrupt legislators1 have every where found it better to amuse with fables1 than to teach them truths1 to unfold their reason1 to excite them to virtue by sensible and real motives1 in fine1 to govern them in a rational manner4 ,priests undoubtedly had reasons for making the soul immaterial2 they wanted souls to people the imaginary regions1 which they have discovered in the other life4 ,material souls would1 like all bodies1 have been subject to dissolution4 ,now1 if men should believe1 that all must perish with the body1 the geographers of the other world would evidently lose the right of guiding men's souls towards that unknown abode2 they would reap no profits from the hope with which they feed them1 and the terrors with which they oppress them4 ,if futurity is of no real utility to mankind1 it is1 at least1 of the greatest utility to those1 who have assumed the office of conducting them thither4 #ajh4 ,but1 it will be said1 is not the dogma of the immortality of the soul comforting to beings1 who are often very unhappy here below8 ,though it should be an error1 is it not pleasing8 ,is it not a blessing to man to believe1 that he shall be able to enjoy hereafter a happiness1 which is denied him upon earth8 ,thus1 poor mortals6 you make your wishes the measure of truth2 because you desire to live for ever1 and to be happier1 you at once conclude1 that you shall live for ever1 and that you shall be more fortunate in an unknown world1 than in this known world1 where you often find nothing but affliction6 ,consent therefore to leave1 without regret1 this world which gives the greater part of you much more torment than pleasure4 ,submit to the order of nature1 which demands that you1 as well as all other beings1 should not endure for ever4 ,we are incessantly told1 that religion has infinite consolations for the unfortunate1 that the idea of the soul's immortality1 and of a happier life1 is very proper to elevate man1 and to support him under adversity1 which awaits him upon earth4 ,it is said1 on the contrary1 that materialism is an afflicting system1 calculated to degrade man2 then it puts him upon a level with the brutes1 breaks his courage1 and shows him no other prospect than frightful annihilation1 capable of driving him to despair and suicide1 whenever he is unhappy4 ,the great art of theologians is to blow hot and cold1 to afflict and console1 to frighten and encourage4 ,it appears by theological fictions1 that the regions of the other life are happy and unhappy4 ,nothing is more difficult than to become worthy of the abode of felicity2 nothing more easy than to obtain a place in the abode of torment1 which ,god is preparing for the unfortunate victims of eternal fury4 ,have those then1 who think the other life so pleasant and flattering1 forgotten1 that according to them1 that life is to be attended with torments to the greater part of mortals8 ,is not the idea of total annihilation infinitely preferable to the idea of an eternal existence1 attended with anguish and gnashing of teeth8 ,is the fear of an end more afflicting1 than that of having had a beginning6 ,the fear of ceasing to exist is a real evil only to the imagination1 which alone begat the dogma of another life4 ,christian ministers say that the idea of a happier life is joyous4 ,admitted4 ,every person would desire a more agreeable existence than that he enjoys here4 ,but1 if paradise is inviting1 you will grant1 that hell is frightful4 ,heaven is very difficult1 and hell very easy to be merited4 ,do you not say1 that a narrow way leads to the happy regions1 and a broad way to the regions of misery8 ,do you not often say1 that the number of the elect is very small1 and that of the reprobate very large8 ,is not ,grace1 which your ,god grants but to a very few1 necessary to salvation8 ,now1 ,i assure you1 that these ideas are by no means consoling2 that ,i had rather be annihilated1 once for all1 than to burn for ever2 that the fate of beasts is to me more desirable than that of the damned2 that the opinion which relieves me from afflicting fears in this world1 appears to me more joyous1 than the uncertainty arising from the opinion of a ,god1 who1 master of his grace1 grants it to none but his favourites1 and permits all others to become worthy of eternal torment4 ,nothing but enthusiasm or folly can induce a man to prefer improbable conjectures1 attended with uncertainty and insupportable fears4 #aji4 ,all religious principles are the work of pure imagination1 in which experience and reason have no share4 ,it is extremely difficult to combat them1 because the imagination1 once prepossessed by chimeras1 which astonish or disturb it1 is incapable of reasoning4 ,to combat religion and its phantoms with the arms of reason1 is like using a sword to kill gnats2 as soon as the blow is struck1 the gnats and chimeras come hovering round again1 and resume in the mind the place1 from which they were thought to have been for ever banished4 ,when we reject1 as too weak1 the proofs given of the existence of a ,god1 they instantly oppose to the arguments1 which destroy that existence1 an inward sense1 a deep persuasion1 an invincible inclination1 born in every man1 which holds up to his mind1 in spite of himself1 the idea of an almighty being1 whom he cannot entirely expel from his mind1 and whom he is compelled to acknowledge1 in spite of the strongest reasons that can be urged4 ,but whoever will analyse this inward sense1 upon which such stress is laid1 will perceive1 that it is only the effect of a rooted habit1 which1 shutting their eyes against the most demonstrative proofs1 subjects the greater part of men1 and often even the most enlightened1 to the prejudices of childhood4 ,what avails this inward sense1 or this deep persuasion1 against the evidence1 which demonstrates1 that whatever implies a contradiction cannot exist8 ,we are gravely assured1 that the non-existence of ,god is not demonstrated4 ,yet1 by all that men have hitherto said of him1 nothing is better demonstrated1 than that this ,god is a chimera1 whose existence is totally impossible2 since nothing is more evident1 than that a being cannot possess qualities so unlike1 so contradictory1 so irreconcilable1 as those1 which every religion upon earth attributes to the ,divinity4 ,is not the theologian's ,god1 as well as that of the deist1 a cause incompatible with the effects attributed to it8 ,let them do what they will1 it is necessary either to invent another ,god1 or to grant1 that he1 who1 for so many ages1 has been held up to the terror of mortals1 is at the same time very good and very bad1 very powerful and very weak1 unchangeable and fickle1 perfectly intelligent and perfectly void of reason1 of order and permitting disorder1 very just and most unjust1 very skilful and unskilful4 ,in short1 are we not forced to confess1 that it is impossible to reconcile the discordant attributes1 heaped upon a being1 of whom we cannot speak without the most palpable contradictions8 ,let any one attribute a single quality to the ,divinity1 and it is universally contradicted by the effects1 ascribed to this cause4 #aaj4 ,theology might justly be defined the science of contradictions4 ,every religion is only a system1 invented to reconcile irreconcilable notions4 ,by the aid of habit and terror1 man becomes obstinate in the greatest absurdities1 even after they are exposed in the clearest manner4 ,all religions are easily combated1 but with difficulty extirpated4 ,reason avails nothing against custom1 which becomes1 says the proverb1 a second nature4 ,many persons1 in other respects sensible1 even after having examined the rotten foundation of their belief1 adhere to it in contempt of the most striking arguments4 ,whenever we complain of religion1 its shocking absurdities1 and impossibilities1 we are told that we are not made to understand the truths of religion2 that reason goes astray1 and is capable of leading us to perdition2 and moreover1 that what is folly in the eyes of man1 is wisdom in the eyes of ,god1 to whom nothing is impossible4 ,in short1 to surmount1 by a single word1 the most insurmountable difficulties1 presented on all sides by theology1 they get rid of them by saying1 these are mysteries6 #aaa4 ,what is a mystery8 ,by examining the thing closely1 ,i soon perceive1 that a mystery is nothing but a contradiction1 a palpable absurdity1 a manifest impossibility1 over which theologians would oblige men humbly to shut their eyes4 ,in a word1 a mystery is whatever our spiritual guides cannot explain4 ,it is profitable to the ministers of religion1 that people understand nothing of what they teach4 ,it is impossible to examine what we do not comprehend2 when we do not see1 we must suffer ourselves to be led4 ,if religion were clear1 priests would find less business4 ,without mysteries there can be no religion2 mystery is essential to it2 a religion void of mysteries1 would be a contradiction in terms4 ,the ,god1 who serves as the foundation of natural religion1 or deism1 is himself the greatest of mysteries4 #aab4 ,every revealed religion is filled with mysterious dogmas1 unintelligible principles1 incredible wonders1 astonishing recitals1 which appear to have been invented solely to confound reason4 ,every religion announces a hidden ,god1 whose essence is a mystery2 consequently1 the conduct1 ascribed to him1 is no less inconceivable than his essence4 ,the ,deity has never spoken only in an enigmatical and mysterious manner1 in the various religions1 which have been founded in different regions of our globe2 he has everywhere revealed himself only to announce mysteries2 that is1 to inform mortals1 that he intended they should believe contradictions1 impossibilities1 and things to which they were incapable of affixing any clear ideas4 ,the more mysterious and incredible a religion is1 the more power it has to please the imagination of men4 ,the darker a religion is1 the more it appears divine1 that is1 conformable to the nature of a hidden being1 of whom they have no ideas4 ,ignorance prefers the unknown1 the hidden1 the fabulous1 the marvellous1 the incredible1 or even the terrible1 to what is clear1 simple1 and true4 ,truth does not operate upon the imagination in so lively a manner as fiction1 which1 in other respects1 everyone is able to arrange in his own way4 ,the vulgar like to listen to fables4 ,priests and legislators1 by inventing religions and forging mysteries have served the vulgar people well4 ,they have thereby gained enthusiasts1 women and fools4 ,beings of this stamp are easily satisfied with things1 which they are incapable of examining4 ,the love of simplicity and truth is to be found only among the few1 whose imagination is regulated by study and reflection4 ,the inhabitants of a village are never better pleased with their parson1 than when he introduces ,latin into his sermon4 ,the ignorant always imagine1 that he1 who speaks to them of things they do not understand1 is a learned man4 ,such is the true principle of the credulity of the people1 and of the authority of those1 who pretend to guide nations4 #aac4 ,to announce mysteries to men1 is to give and withhold2 it is to talk in order not to be understood4 ,he1 who speaks only obscurely1 either seeks to amuse himself by the embarrassment1 which he causes1 or finds his interest in not explaining himself too clearly4 ,all secrecy indicates distrust1 impotence1 and fear4 ,princes and their ministers make a mystery of their projects1 for fear their enemies should discover and render them abortive4 ,can a good ,god amuse himself by perplexing his creatures8 ,what interest then could he have in commanding his ministers to announce riddles and mysteries8 ,it is said1 that man1 by the weakness of his nature1 is totally incapable of understanding the divine dispensations1 which can be to him only a series of mysteries2 ,god cannot disclose to him secrets1 necessarily above his reach4 ,if so1 ,i answer again1 that man is not made to attend to the divine dispensations2 that these dispensations are to him by no means interesting2 that he has no need of mysteries1 which he cannot understand2 and consequently1 that a mysterious religion is no more fit for him1 than an eloquent discourse is for a flock of sheep4 #aad4 ,the ,deity has revealed himself with so little uniformity in the different countries of our globe1 that in point of religion1 men regard one another with hatred and contempt4 ,the partisans of the different sects think each other very ridiculous and foolish4 ,mysteries1 most revered in one religion1 are objects of derision to another4 ,god1 in revealing himself to mankind1 ought at least1 to have spoken the same language to all1 and saved their feeble minds the perplexity of inquiring which religion really emanated from him1 or what form of worship is most acceptable in his sight4 ,a universal ,god ought to have revealed a universal religion4 ,by what fatality then are there so many different religions upon earth8 ,which is really right1 among the great number of those1 each of which exclusively pretends to be the true one8 ,there is great reason to believe1 that no religion enjoys this advantage4 ,division and disputes upon opinions are indubitable signs of the uncertainty and obscurity of the principles1 upon which they build4 #aae4 ,if religion were necessary at all1 it ought to be intelligible to all4 ,if this religion were the most important concern of men1 the goodness of ,god would seem to demand1 that it should be to them of all things the most clear1 evident1 and demonstrative4 ,is it not then astonishing1 that this thing so essential to the happiness of mortals1 is precisely that1 which they understand least1 and about which1 for so many ages1 their teachers have most disputed8 ,priests have never agreed upon the manner of understanding the will of a ,god1 who has revealed himself4 ,the world1 may be compared to a public fair1 in which are several empirics1 each of whom endeavours to attract the passengers by decrying the remedies sold by his brothers4 ,each shop has its customers1 who are persuaded1 that their quacks possess the only true remedies2 and notwithstanding a continual use of them1 they perceive not the inefficacy of these remedies1 or that they are as infirm as those1 who run after the quacks of a different shop4 ,devotion is a disorder of the imagination contracted in infancy4 ,the devout man is a hypochondriac1 who only augments his malady by the application of remedies4 ,the wise man abstains from them entirely2 he pays attention to his diet1 and in other respects leaves nature to her course4 #aaf4 ,to a man of sense1 nothing appears more ridiculous1 than the opinions1 which the partisans of the different religions with equal folly entertain of each other4 ,a ,christian regards the ,koran1 that is1 the divine revelation announced by ,mahomet1 as nothing but a tissue of impertinent reveries1 and impostures insulting to the divinity4 ,the ,mahometan1 on the other hand1 treats the ,christian as an idolater and a dog4 ,he sees nothing but absurdities in his religion4 ,he imagines he has a right to subdue the ,christian1 and to force him1 sword in hand1 to receive the religion of his divine prophet4 ,finally1 he believes1 that nothing is more impious and unreasonable1 than to worship a man1 or to believe in the ,trinity4 ,the protestant ,christian who without scruple worships a man1 and firmly believes the inconceivable mystery of the trinity1 ridicules the catholic ,christian for believing in the mystery of transubstantiation2 he considers him mad1 impious1 and idolatrous1 because he kneels to worship some bread1 in which he thinks he sees ,god4 ,christians of every sect regard1 as silly stories1 the incarnations of ,vishnu1 the ,god of the ,indies2 they maintain1 that the only true incarnation is that of ,jesus1 son of a carpenter4 ,the deist1 who calls himself the follower of a religion1 which he supposes to be that of nature1 content with admitting a ,god1 of whom he has no idea1 makes a jest of all the mysteries1 taught by the various religions in the world4 #aag4 ,is there any thing more contradictory1 impossible1 or mysterious1 than the creation of matter by an immaterial being1 who1 though immutable1 operates continual changes in the world8 ,is any thing more incompatible with every notion of common sense1 than to believe1 that a supremely good1 wise1 equitable and powerful being presides over nature1 and by himself directs the movements of a world1 full of folly1 misery1 crimes and disorders1 which by a single word1 he could have prevented or removed8 ,in fine1 whenever we admit a being as contradictory as the ,god of theology1 how can we reject the most improbable fables1 astonishing miracles1 and profound mysteries4 #aah4 ,the ,deist exclaims3 ,abstain from worshipping the cruel and capricious ,god of theology2 mine is a being infinitely wise and good2 he is the father of men1 the mildest of sovereigns2 it is he who fills the universe with his benefits4 ,but do you not see that every thing in this world contradicts the good qualities1 which you ascribe to your ,god8 ,in the numerous family of this tender father1 almost all are unhappy4 ,under the government of this just sovereign1 vice is triumphant1 and virtue in distress4 ,among those blessings you extol1 and which only enthusiasm can see1 ,i behold a multitude of evils1 against which you obstinately shut your eyes4 ,forced to acknowledge1 that your beneficent ,god1 in contradiction with himself1 distributes good and evil with the same hand1 for his justification you must1 like the priest1 refer me to the regions of another life4 ,invent1 therefore1 another ,god2 for yours is no less contradictory than that of theologians4 ,a good ,god1 who does evil1 or consents to the commission of evil2 a ,god full of equity1 and in whose empire innocence is often oppressed2 a perfect ,god1 who produces none but imperfect and miserable works2 are not such a ,god and his conduct as great mysteries1 as that of the incarnation8 ,you blush for your fellow-citizens1 who allow themselves to be persuaded1 that the ,god of the universe could change himself into a man1 and die upon a cross in a corner of ,asia4 ,the mystery of the incarnation appears to you very absurd4 ,you think nothing more ridiculous1 than a ,god1 who transforms himself into bread1 and causes himself daily to be eaten in a thousand different places4 ,but are all these mysteries more contradictory to reason than a ,god1 the avenger and rewarder of the actions of men8 ,is man1 according to you1 free1 or not free8 ,in either case1 your ,god1 if he has the shadow of equity1 can neither punish nor reward him4 ,if man is free1 it is ,god1 who has made him free2 therefore ,god is the primitive cause of all his actions2 in punishing him for his faults1 he would punish him for having executed what he had given him liberty to do4 ,if man is not free to act otherwise than he does1 would not ,god be most unjust1 in punishing man for faults1 which he could not help committing4 ,the minor1 or secondary1 absurdities1 with which all religions abound1 are to many people truly striking2 but they have not the courage to trace the source of these absurdities4 ,they see not1 that a ,god full of contradictions1 caprices and inconsistent qualities1 has only served to disorder men's imaginations1 and to produce an endless succession of chimeras4 #aai4 ,the theologian would shut the mouths of those who deny the existence of ,god1 by saying1 that all men1 in all ages and countries1 have acknowledged some divinity or other2 that every people have believed in an invisible and powerful being1 who has been the object of their worship and veneration2 in short1 that there is no nation1 however savage1 who are not persuaded of the existence of some intelligence superior to human nature4 ,but1 can an error be changed into truth by the belief of all men8 ,the great philosopher ,bayle has justly observed1 that general tradition1 or the unanimous consent of mankind1 is no criterion of truth4 ,there was a time1 when all men believed that the sun moved round the earth1 but this error was detected4 ,there was a time1 when nobody believed the existence of the antipodes1 and when every one was persecuted1 who had temerity enough to maintain it4 ,at present1 every informed man firmly believes it4 ,all nations1 with the exception of a few men who are less credulous than the rest1 still believe in ghosts and spirits4 ,no sensible man now adopts such nonsense4 ,but the most sensible people consider it their duty to believe in a universal spirit6 #abj4 ,all the gods1 adored by men1 are of savage origin4 ,they have evidently been imagined by stupid people1 or presented1 by ambitious and crafty legislators1 to ignorant and uncivilized nations1 who had neither capacity nor courage to examine the objects1 which through terror they were made to worship4 ,by closely examining ,god1 we are forced to acknowledge1 that he evidently bears marks of a savage nature4 ,to be savage is to acknowledge no right but force2 it is to be cruel beyond measure2 to follow only one's own caprice2 to want foresight1 prudence1 and reason4 ,ye nations1 who call yourselves civilized6 ,do you not discern1 in this hideous character1 the ,god1 on whom you lavish your incense8 ,are not the descriptions given you of the divinity1 visibly borrowed from the implacable1 jealous1 revengeful1 sanguinary1 capricious inconsiderate humour of man1 who has not cultivated his reason8 ,o men6 ,you adore only a great savage1 whom you regard1 however1 as a model to imitate1 as an amiable master1 as a sovereign full of perfection4 ,religious opinions are ancient monuments of ignorance1 credulity1 cowardice1 and barbarism of their ancestors4 ,every savage is a child fond of the marvellous1 who believes every thing1 and examines nothing4 ,ignorant of nature1 he attributes to spirits1 enchantments1 and to magic1 whatever appears to him extraordinary4 ,his priests appear to him sorcerers1 in whom he supposes a power purely divine1 before whom his confounded reason humbles itself1 whose oracles are to him infallible decrees which it would be dangerous to contradict4 ,in religion1 men have1 for the most part1 remained in their primitive barbarity4 ,modern religions are only ancient follies revived1 or presented under some new form4 ,if the savages of antiquity adored mountains1 rivers1 serpents1 trees1 and idols of every kind2 if the ,,egyptians paid homage to crocodiles1 rats1 and onions1 do we not see nations1 who think themselves wiser than they1 worship bread1 into which they imagine1 that through the enchantments of their priests1 the divinity has descended4 ,is not the ,bread-,god the idol of many ,christian nations1 who1 in this respect1 are as irrational1 as the most savage8 #aba4 ,the ferocity1 stupidity1 and folly of uncivilized man have ever disclosed themselves in religious practices1 either cruel or extravagant4 ,a spirit of barbarity still survives1 and penetrates the religions even of the most polished nations4 ,do we not still see human victims offered to the divinity8 ,to appease the anger of a ,god1 who is always supposed as ferocious1 jealous and vindictive1 as a savage1 do not those1 whose manner of thinking is supposed to displease him1 expire under studied torments1 by the command of sanguinary laws8 ,modern nations1 at the instigation of their priests1 have perhaps improved upon the atrocious folly of barbarous nations2 at least1 we find1 that it has ever entered the heads of savages to torment for opinions1 to search the thoughts1 to molest men for the invisible movements of their brains8 ,when we see learned nations1 such as the ,english1 ,french1 ,german1 etc41 continue1 notwithstanding their knowledge1 to kneel before the barbarous ,god of the ,jews2 when we see these enlightened nations divide into sects1 defame1 hate1 and despise one another for their equally ridiculous opinions concerning the conduct and intentions of this unreasonable ,god2 when we see men of ability foolishly devote their time to meditate the will of this ,god1 who is full of caprice and folly1 we are tempted to cry out3 ,o men1 you are still savage666 #abb4 ,whoever has formed true ideas of the ignorance1 credulity1 negligence1 and stupidity of the vulgar1 will suspect opinions the more1 as he finds them generally established4 ,men1 for the most part1 examine nothing3 they blindly submit to custom and authority4 ,their religious opinions1 above all others1 are those which they have the least courage and capacity to examine3 as they comprehend nothing about them1 they are forced to be silent1 or at least are soon destitute of arguments4 ,ask any man1 whether he believes in a ,god8 ,he will be much surprised that you can doubt it4 ,ask him again1 what he understands by the word ,god4 ,you throw him into the greatest embarrassment2 you will perceive immediately1 that he is incapable of affixing any real idea to this word1 he incessantly repeats4 ,he will tell you1 that ,god is ,god4 ,he knows neither what he thinks of it1 nor his motives for believing in it4 ,all nations speak of a ,god2 but do they agree upon this ,god8 ,by no means4 ,but division upon an opinion proves not its evidence2 it is rather a sign of uncertainty and obscurity4 ,does the same man always agree with himself in the notions he forms of his ,god8 ,no4 ,his idea varies with the changes1 which he experiences2--another sign of uncertainty4 ,men always agree in demonstrative truths4 ,in any situation1 except that of insanity1 every one knows that two and two make four1 that the sun shines1 that the whole is greater than its part2 that benevolence is necessary to merit the affection of men2 that injustice and cruelty are incompatible with goodness4 ,are they thus agreed when they speak of ,god8 ,whatever they think1 or say of him1 is immediately destroyed by the effects they attribute to him4 ,ask several painters to represent a chimera1 and each will paint it in a different manner4 ,you will find no resemblance between the features1 each has given it a portrait1 that has no original4 ,all theologians1 in giving us a picture of ,god1 give us one of a great chimera1 in whose features they never agree1 whom each arranges in his own way1 and who exists only in their imaginations4 ,there are not two individuals1 who have1 or can have1 the same ideas of their ,god4 #abc4 ,it might be said with more truth1 that men are either skeptics or atheists1 than that they are convinced of the existence of ,god4 ,how can we be assured of the existence of a being1 whom we could never examine1 and of whom it is impossible to conceive any permanent idea8 ,how can we convince ourselves of the existence of a being1 to whom we are every moment forced to attribute conduct1 opposed to the ideas1 we had endeavoured to form of him8 ,is it then possible to believe what we cannot conceive8 ,is not such a belief the opinions of others without having any of our own8 ,priests govern by faith2 but do not priests themselves acknowledge that ,god is to them incomprehensible8 ,confess then1 that a full and entire conviction of the existence of ,god is not so general1 as is imagined4 ,scepticism arises from a want of motives sufficient to form a judgment4 ,upon examining the proofs which seem to establish1 and the arguments which combat1 the existence of ,god1 some persons have doubted and withheld their assent4 ,but this uncertainty arises from not having sufficiently examined4 ,is it possible to doubt any thing evident8 ,sensible people ridicule an absolute scepticism1 and think it even impossible4 ,a man1 who doubted his own existence1 or that of the sun1 would appear ridiculous4 ,is this more extravagant than to doubt the non-existence of an evidently impossible being8 ,is it more absurd to doubt one's own existence1 than to hesitate upon the impossibility of a being1 whose qualities reciprocally destroy one another8 ,do we find greater probability for believing the existence of a spiritual being1 than the existence of a stick without two ends8 ,is the notion of an infinitely good and powerful being1 who causes or permits an infinity of evils1 less absurd or impossible1 than that of a square triangle8 ,let us conclude then1 that religious scepticism can result only from a superficial examination of theological principles1 which are in perpetual contradiction with the most clear and demonstrative principles4 ,to doubt1 is to deliberate4 ,scepticism is only a state of indetermination1 resulting from an insufficient examination of things4 ,is it possible for any one to be sceptical in matters of religion1 who will deign to revert to its principles1 and closely examine the notion of ,god1 who serves as its basis8 ,doubt generally arises either from indolence1 weakness1 indifference1 or incapacity4 ,with many people1 to doubt is to fear the trouble of examining things1 which are thought uninteresting4 ,but religion being presented to men as their most important concern in this and the future world1 skepticism and doubt on this subject must occasion perpetual anxiety and must really constitute a bed of thorns4 ,every man who has not courage to contemplate1 without prejudice1 the ,god upon whom all religion is founded1 can never know for what religion to decide3 he knows not what he should believe or not believe1 admit or reject1 hope or fear4 ,indifference upon religion must not be confounded with scepticism4 ,this indifference is founded upon the absolute assurance1 or at any rate upon the probable belief1 that religion is not interesting4 ,a persuasion that a thing which is pretended to be important is not so1 or is only indifferent1 supposes a sufficient examination of the thing1 without which it would be impossible to have this persuasion4 ,those who call themselves sceptics in the fundamental points of religion1 are commonly either indolent or incapable of examining4 #abd4 ,in every country1 we are assured1 that a ,god has revealed himself4 ,what has he taught men8 ,has he proved evidently that he exists8 ,has he informed them where he resides8 ,has he taught them what he is1 or in what his essence consists8 ,has he clearly explained to them his intentions and plan8 ,does what he says of this plan correspond with the effects1 which we see8 ,no4 ,he informs them solely1 that he is what he is2 that he is a hidden ,god2 that his ways are unspeakable2 that he is exasperated against all who have the temerity to fathom his decrees1 or to consult reason in judging him or his works4 ,does the revealed conduct of ,god answer the magnificent ideas which theologians would give us of his wisdom1 goodness1 justice1 and omnipotence8 ,by no means4 ,in every revelation1 this conduct announces a partial and capricious being1 the protector of favourite people1 and the enemy of all others4 ,if he deigns to appear to some men1 he takes care to keep all others in an invincible ignorance of his divine intentions4 ,every private revelation evidently announces in ,god1 injustice1 partiality and malignity4 ,do the commands1 revealed by any ,god1 astonish us by their sublime reason or wisdom8 ,do they evidently tend to promote the happiness of the people1 to whom the ,divinity discloses them8 ,upon examining the divine commands1 one sees in every country1 nothing but strange ordinances1 ridiculous precepts1 impertinent ceremonies1 puerile customs1 oblations1 sacrifices1 and expiations1 useful indeed to the ministers of ,god1 but very burthensome to the rest of the citizens4 ,i see likewise1 that these laws often tend to make men unsociable1 disdainful1 intolerant1 quarrelsome1 unjust1 and inhuman1 to those who have not received the same revelations1 the same ordinances1 or the same favours from heaven4 #abe4 ,are the precepts of morality1 announced by the ,deity1 really divine1 or superior to those which every reasonable man might imagine8 ,they are divine solely because it is impossible for the human mind to discover their utility4 ,they make virtue consist in a total renunciation of nature1 in a voluntary forgetfulness of reason1 a holy hatred of ourselves4 ,finally1 these sublime precepts often exhibit perfection in a conduct1 cruel to ourselves1 and perfectly useless to others4 ,has a ,god appeared8 ,has he himself promulgated his laws8 ,has he spoken to men with his own mouth8 ,i am told1 that ,god has not appeared to a whole people2 but that he has always manifested himself through the medium of some favourite personages1 who have been intrusted with the care of announcing and explaining his intentions4 ,the people have never been permitted to enter the sanctuary2 the ministers of the gods have alone had the right to relate what passes there4 #abf4 ,if in every system of divine revelation1 ,i complain of not seeing either the wisdom1 goodness1 or equity of ,god2 if ,i suspect knavery1 ambition1 or interest2 it is replied1 that ,god has confirmed by miracles the mission of those1 who speak in his name4 ,but was it not more simple for him to appear in person1 to explain his nature and will8 ,again1 if ,i have the curiosity to examine these miracles1 ,i find1 that they are improbable tales1 related by suspected people1 who had the greatest interest in giving out that they were the messengers of the ,most ,high4 ,what witnesses are appealed to in order to induce us to believe incredible miracles8 ,weak people1 who existed thousands of years ago1 and who1 even though they could attest these miracles1 may be suspected of being duped by their own imagination1 and imposed upon by the tricks of dexterous impostors4 ,but1 you will say1 these miracles are written in books1 which by tradition have been transmitted to us4 ,by whom were these books written8 ,who are the men who have transmitted them8 ,they are either the founders of religions themselves1 or their adherents and assigns4 ,thus1 in religion1 the evidence of interested parties becomes irrefragable and incontestable4 #abg4 ,god has spoken differently to every people4 ,the ,indian believes not a word of what ,he has revealed to the ,chinese2 the ,mahometan considers as fables what ,he has said to the ,christian2 the ,jew regards both the ,mahometan and ,christian as sacrilegious corrupters of the sacred law1 which his ,god had given to his fathers4 ,the ,christian1 proud of his more modern revelation1 indiscriminately damns the ,indian1 ,chinese1 ,mahometan1 and even the ,jew1 from whom he receives his sacred books4 ,who is wrong or right8 ,each exclaims1 ,i am in the right6 ,each adduces the same proofs3 each mentions his miracles1 diviners1 prophets1 and martyrs4 ,the man of sense tells them1 they are all delirious2 that ,god has not spoken1 if it is true that he is a spirit1 and can have neither mouth nor tongue2 that without borrowing the organ of mortals1 ,god could inspire his creatures with what he would have them learn2 and that1 as they are all equally ignorant what to think of ,god1 it is evident that it has not been the will of ,god to inform them on the subject4 ,the followers of different forms of worship which are established1 accuse one another of superstition and impiety4 ,christians look with abhorrence upon the ,pagan1 ,chinese1 and ,mahometan superstition4 ,roman ,catholics treat1 as impious1 ,protestant ,christians2 and the latter incessantly declaim against the superstition of the ,catholics4 ,they are all right4 ,to be impious1 is to have opinions offensive to the ,god adored2 to be superstitious1 is to have of him false ideas4 ,in accusing one another of superstition1 the different religionists resemble humpbacks1 who reproach one another with their deformity4 #abh4 ,are the oracles1 which the ,divinity has revealed by his different messengers1 remarkable for clearness8 ,alas6 no two men interpret them alike4 ,those who explain them to others are not agreed among themselves4 ,to elucidate them1 they have recourse to interpretations1 to commentaries1 to allegories1 to explanations3 they discover mystical sense very different from the literal sense4 ,men are every where wanted to explain the commands of a ,god1 who could not1 or would not1 announce himself clearly to those1 whom he wished to enlighten4 #abi4 ,the founders of religion1 have generally proved their missions by miracles4 ,but what is a miracle8 ,it is an operation directly opposite to the laws of nature4 ,but who1 according to you1 made those laws8 ,god4 ,thus1 your ,god1 who1 according to you1 foresaw every thing1 counteracts the laws1 which his wisdom prescribed to nature6 ,these laws were then defective1 or at least in certain circumstances they did not accord with the views of the same ,god1 since you inform us that he judged it necessary to suspend or counteract them4 ,it is said1 that a few men1 favoured by the ,most ,high1 have received power to perform miracles4 ,but to perform a miracle1 it is necessary to have ability to create new causes capable of producing effects contrary to those of common causes4 ,is it easy to conceive1 that ,god can give men the inconceivable power of creating causes out of nothing8 ,is it credible1 that an immutable ,god can communicate to men power to change or rectify his plan1 a power1 which by his essence an immutable being cannot save himself8 ,miracles1 far from doing much honour to ,god1 far from proving the divinity of a religion1 evidently annihilate the ,god idea4 ,how can a theologian tell us1 that ,god1 who must have embraced the whole of his plan1 who could have made none but perfect laws1 and who cannot alter them1 is forced to employ miracles to accomplish his projects1 or can grant his creatures the power of working prodigies to execute his divine will8 ,an omnipotent being1 whose will is always fulfilled1 who holds in his hand his creatures1 has only to will1 to make them believe whatever he desires4 #acj4 ,what shall we say of religions that prove their divinity by miracles8 ,how can we credit miracles recorded in the sacred books of the ,christians1 where ,god boasts of hardening the hearts and blinding those whom he wishes to destroy2 where he permits malicious spirits and magicians to work miracles as great as those of his servants2 where it is predicted1 that ,antichrist shall have power to perform prodigies capable of shaking the faith even of the elect8 ,in this case1 by what signs shall we know whether ,god means to instruct or ensnare us8 ,how shall we distinguish whether the wonders1 we behold1 come from ,god or devil8 ,to remove our perplexity1 ,pascal gravely tells us1 that it is necessary to judge the doctrine by the miracles1 and the miracles by the doctrine2 that the doctrine proves the miracles1 and the miracles the doctrine4 ,if there exist a vicious and ridiculous circle1 it is undoubtedly in this splendid reasoning of one of the greatest defenders of ,christianity4 ,where is the religion1 that does not boast of the most admirable doctrine1 and which does not produce numerous miracles for its support8 ,is a miracle capable of annihilating the evidence of a demonstrated truth8 ,although a man should have the secret of healing all the sick1 of making all the lame to walk1 of raising in all the dead of a city1 of ascending into the air1 of stopping the course of the sun and moon1 can he thereby convince me1 that two and two do not make four1 that one makes three1 and that three make only one2 that a ,god1 whose immensity fills the universe1 could have been contained in the body of a ,jew2 that the ,,eternal can die like a man2 that a ,god1 who is said to be immutable1 provident1 and sensible1 could have changed his mind upon his religion1 and reformed his own work by a new revelation8 #aca4 ,according to the very principles either of natural or revealed theology1 every new revelation should be regarded as false2 every change in a religion emanated from the ,deity should be reputed an impiety and blasphemy4 ,does not all reform suppose1 that1 in his first effort1 ,god could not give his religion the solidity and perfection required8 ,to say1 that ,god1 in giving a first law1 conformed to the rude ideas of the people whom he wished to enlighten1 is to pretend that ,god was neither able nor willing to render the people1 whom he was enlightening1 so reasonable as was necessary in order to please him4 ,christianity is an impiety1 if it is true that ,judaism is a religion which has really emanated from a holy1 immutable1 omnipotent1 and foreseeing ,god4 ,the religion of ,christ supposes either defects in the law which ,god himself had given by ,moses1 or impotence or malice in the same ,god1 who was either unable or unwilling to render the ,jews such as they ought to have been in order to please him4 ,every new religion1 or reform of ancient religions1 is evidently founded upon the impotence1 inconstancy1 imprudence1 or malice of the ,divinity4 #acb4 ,if history informs me1 that the first apostles1 the founders or reformers of religions1 wrought great miracles2 history also informs me1 that these reformers and their adherents were commonly buffeted1 persecuted1 and put to death1 as disturbers of the peace of nations4 ,i am therefore tempted to believe1 that they did not perform the miracles ascribed to them2 indeed1 such miracles must have gained them numerous partisans among the eye-witnesses1 who ought to have protected the operators from abuse4 ,my incredulity redoubles1 when ,i am told1 that the workers of miracles were cruelly tormented1 or ignominiously executed4 ,how is it possible to believe1 that missionaries1 protected by ,god1 invested with his divine power1 and enjoying the gift of miracles1 could not have wrought such a simple miracle1 as to escape the cruelty of their persecutors8 ,priests have the art of drawing from the persecutions themselves1 a convincing proof in favour of the religion of the persecuted4 ,but a religion1 which boasts of having cost the lives of many martyrs1 and informs us1 that its founders1 in order to extend it1 have suffered punishments1 cannot be the religion of a beneficent1 equitable and omnipotent ,god4 ,a good ,god would not permit men1 intrusted with announcing his commands1 to be ill-treated4 ,an all-powerful ,god1 wishing to found a religion1 would proceed in a manner more simple and less fatal to the most faithful of his servants4 ,to say that ,god would have his religion sealed with blood1 is to say that he is weak1 unjust1 ungrateful1 and sanguinary2 and that he is cruel enough to sacrifice his messengers to the views of his ambition4 #acc4 ,to die for religion proves not that the religion is true1 or divine2 it proves1 at most1 that it is supposed to be such4 ,an enthusiast proves nothing by his death1 unless that religious fanaticism is often stronger than the love of life4 ,an impostor may sometimes die with courage2 he then makes1 in the language of the proverb1 a virtue of necessity4 ,people are often surprised and affected at sight of the generous courage and disinterested zeal1 which has prompted missionaries to preach their doctrine1 even at the risk of suffering the most rigorous treatment4 ,from this ardour for the salvation of men1 are drawn inferences favourable to the religion they have announced4 ,but in reality1 this disinterestedness is only apparent4 ,he1 who ventures nothing should gain nothing4 ,a missionary seeks to make his fortune by his doctrine4 ,he knows that1 if he is fortunate enough to sell his commodity1 he will become absolute master of those who receive him for their guide2 he is sure of becoming the object of their attention1 respect1 and veneration4 ,such are the true motives1 which kindle the zeal and charity of so many preachers and missionaries4 ,to die for an opinion1 proves the truth or goodness of that opinion no more than to die in battle proves the justice of a cause1 in which thousands have the folly to devote their lives4 ,the courage of a martyr1 elated with the idea of paradise1 is not more supernatural1 than the courage of a soldier1 intoxicated with the idea of glory1 or impelled by the fear of disgrace4 ,what is the difference between an ,iroquois1 who sings while he is burning by inches1 and the martyr ,,st4 ,,laurence1 who upon the gridiron insults his tyrant8 ,the preachers of a new doctrine fail1 because they are the weakest2 apostles generally practise a perilous trade4 ,their courageous death proves neither the truth of their principles nor their own sincerity1 any more than the violent death of the ambitious man1 or of the robber1 proves1 that they were right in disturbing society1 or that they thought themselves authorised in so doing4 ,the trade of a missionary was always flattering to ambition1 and formed a convenient method of living at the expense of the vulgar4 ,these advantages have often been enough to efface every idea of danger4 #acd4 ,you tell us1 theologians6 that what is folly in the eyes of men1 is wisdom before ,god1 who delights to confound the wisdom of the wise4 ,but do you not say1 that human wisdom is a gift of heaven8 ,in saying this wisdom displeases ,god1 is but folly in his sight1 and that he is pleased to confound it1 you declare that your ,god is the friend only of ignorant people1 and that he makes sensible people a fatal present for which this perfidious tyrant promises to punish them cruelly at some future day4 ,is it not strange1 that one can be the friend of your ,god1 only by declaring one's self the enemy of reason and good sense8 #ace4 ,according to the divines1 faith is an assent without evidence4 ,whence it follows1 that religion requires us firmly to believe inevident things1 and propositions often improbable or contrary to reason4 ,but when we reject reason as a judge of faith1 do we not confess1 that reason is incompatible with faith8 ,as the ministers of religion have resolved to banish reason1 they must have felt the impossibility of reconciling it with faith1 which is visibly only a blind submission to priests1 whose authority seems to many persons more weighty than evidence itself1 and preferable to the testimony of the senses4 ,sacrifice your reason2 renounce experience2 mistrust the testimony of your senses2 submit without enquiry to what we announce to you in the name of heaven4 ,such is the uniform language of priests throughout the world2 they agree upon no point1 except upon the necessity of never reasoning upon the principles which they present to us as most important to our felicity6 ,i will not sacrifice my reason2 because this reason alone enables me to distinguish good from evil1 truth from falsehood4 ,if1 as you say1 my reason comes from ,god1 ,i shall never believe that a ,god1 whom you call good1 has given me reason1 as a snare1 to lead me to perdition4 ,priests6 do you not see1 that1 by decrying reason1 you calumniate your ,god1 from whom you declare it to be a gift4 ,i will not renounce experience2 because it is a guide much more sure than the imagination or authority of spiritual guides4 ,experience teaches me1 that enthusiasm and interest may blind and lead them astray themselves2 and that the authority of experience ought to have much more influence upon my mind1 than the suspicious testimony of many men1 who ,i know are either very liable to be deceived themselves1 or otherwise are very much interested in deceiving others4 ,i will mistrust my senses2 because ,i am sensible they sometimes mislead me4 ,but1 on the other hand1 ,i know that they will not always deceive me4 ,i well know1 that the eye shews me the sun much smaller than it really is2 but experience1 which is only the repeated application of the senses1 informs me1 that objects always appear to diminish1 as their distance increases2 thus ,i attain to a certainty1 that the sun is much larger than the earth2 thus my senses suffice to rectify the hasty judgments1 which they themselves had caused4 ,in warning us to mistrust the testimony of our senses1 the priests annihilate the proofs of all religion4 ,if men may be dupes of their imagination2 if their senses are deceitful1 how shall we believe the miracles1 which struck the treacherous senses of our ancestors8 ,if my senses are unfaithful guides1 ,i ought not to credit even the miracles wrought before my eyes4 #acf4 ,you incessantly repeat that the truths of religion are above reason4 ,if so1 do you not perceive1 that these truths are not adapted to reasonable beings8 ,to pretend that reason can deceive us1 is to say1 that truth can be false2 that the useful can be hurtful4 ,is reason any thing but a knowledge of the useful and true8 ,besides1 as our reason and senses are our only guides in this life1 to say they are unfaithful1 is to say1 that our errors are necessary1 our ignorance invincible1 and that1 without the extreme of injustice1 ,god cannot punish us for following the only guides it was his supreme will to give4 ,to say1 we are obliged to believe things above our reason1 is ridiculous4 ,to assure us1 that upon some objects we are not allowed to consult reason1 is to say1 that1 in the most interesting matter1 we must consult only imagination1 or act only at random4 ,our divines say1 we must sacrifice our reason to ,god4 ,but what motives can we have to sacrifice our reason to a being1 who makes us only useless presents1 which he does not intend us to use8 ,what confidence can we put in a ,god1 who1 according to our divines themselves1 is malicious enough to harden the heart1 to strike with blindness1 to lay snares for us1 to lead us into temptation8 ,in fine1 what confidence can we put in the ministers of this ,god1 who1 to guide us more conveniently1 commands us to shut our eyes8 #acg4 ,men are persuaded1 that religion is to them of all things the most serious1 while it is precisely what they least examine for themselves4 ,in pursuit of an office1 a piece of land1 a house1 a place of profit2 in any transaction or contract whatever1 every one carefully examines all1 takes the greatest precaution1 weighs every word of a writing1 is guarded against every surprise4 ,not so in religion2 every one receives it at a venture1 and believes it upon the word of others1 without ever taking the trouble to examine4 ,two causes concur to foster the negligence and carelessness of men1 with regard to their religious opinions4 ,the first is the despair of overcoming the obscurity1 in which all religion is necessarily enveloped4 ,their first principles are only adapted to disgust lazy minds1 who regard them as a chaos impossible to be understood4 ,the second cause is1 that every one is averse to being too much bound by severe precepts1 which all admire in theory1 but very few care to practice with rigour4 ,the religion of many people is like old family ties1 which they have never taken pains to examine1 but which they deposit in their archives to have recourse to them occasionally4 #ach4 ,the disciples of ,pythagoras paid implicit faith to the doctrine of their master2 he has said it1 was to them the solution of every problem4 ,the generality of men are not more rational4 ,in matters of religion1 a curate1 a priest1 an ignorant monk becomes master of the thoughts4 ,faith relieves the weakness of the human mind1 to which application is commonly painful2 it is much more convenient to depend upon others1 than to examine for one's self4 ,inquiry1 being slow and difficult1 equally1 displeases the stupidity of the ignorant1 and the ardour of the enlightened4 ,such is undoubtedly the reason why ,faith has so many partisans4 ,the more men are deficient in knowledge and reason1 the more zealous they are in religion4 ,in theological quarrels1 the populace1 like ferocious beasts1 fall upon all those1 against whom their priest is desirous of exciting them4 ,a profound ignorance1 boundless credulity1 weak intellect1 and warm imagination1 are the materials1 of which are made bigots1 zealots1 fanatics1 and saints4 ,how can the voice of reason be heard by them who make it a principle never to examine for themselves1 but to submit blindly to the guidance of others8 ,the saints and the populace are1 in the hands of their directors1 automatons1 moved at pleasure4 #aci4 ,religion is an affair of custom and fashion4 ,we must do as others do4 ,but1 among the numerous religions in the world1 which should men choose8 ,this inquiry would be too painful and long4 ,they must therefore adhere to the religion of their fathers1 to that of their country1 which1 having force on its side1 must be the best4 ,if we judge of the intentions of ,providence by the events and revolutions of this world1 we are compelled to believe1 that ,he is very indifferent about the various religions upon earth4 ,for thousands of years1 paganism1 polytheism1 idolatry1 were the prevailing religions4 ,we are now assured1 that the most flourishing nations had not the least idea of ,god2 an idea1 regarded as so essential to the happiness of man4 ,christians say1 all mankind lived in the grossest ignorance of their duties towards ,god1 and had no notions of him1 but what were insulting to his ,divine ,majesty4 ,christianity1 growing out of ,judaism1 very humble in its obscure origin1 became powerful and cruel under the ,christian emperors1 who1 prompted by holy zeal1 rapidly spread it in their empire by means of fire and sword1 and established it upon the ruins of paganism4 ,mahomet and his successors1 seconded by ,providence or their victorious arms1 in a short time banished the ,christian religion from a part of ,asia1 ,africa1 and even ,europe2 and the gospel was then forced to yield to the ,koran4 ,in all the factions or sects1 which1 for many ages have distracted ,christianity1 the best argument has been always that of the strongest party2 arms have decided which doctrine is most conducive to the happiness of nations4 ,may we not hence infer1 either that the ,deity feels little interested in the religion of men1 or that he always declares in favour of the opinions1 which best suit the interest of earthly powers2 in fine1 that he changes his plan to accommodate their fancy8 ,rulers infallibly decide the religion of the people4 ,the true religion is always the religion of the prince2 the true ,god is the ,god1 whom the prince desires his people to adore2 the will of the priests1 who govern the prince1 always becomes the will of ,god4 ,a wit justly observed1 that the true religion is always that1 on whose side are the prince and the hangman4 ,emperors and hangmen long supported the gods of ,rome against the ,god of ,christians2 the latter1 having gained to his interest the emperors1 their soldiers1 and their hangmen1 succeeded in destroying the worship of the ,roman gods4 ,the ,god of ,mahomet has dispossessed the ,god of ,christians of a great part of the dominions1 which he formerly occupied4 ,in the eastern part of ,asia1 is a vast1 flourishing1 fertile1 populous country1 governed by such wise laws1 that the fiercest conquerors have adopted them with respect4 ,i mean ,china4 ,excepting ,christianity1 which was banished as dangerous1 the people there follow such superstitions as they please1 while the mandarins1 or magistrates1 having long known the errors of the popular religion1 are vigilant to prevent the bonzes or priests from using it as an instrument of discord4 ,yet we see not1 that ,providence refuses his blessing to a nation1 whose chiefs are so indifferent about the worship that is rendered to him4 ,on the contrary1 the ,chinese enjoy a happiness and repose worthy to be envied1 by the many nations whom religion divides1 and often devastates4 ,we cannot reasonably propose to divest the people of their follies2 but we may perhaps cure the follies of those who govern the people1 and who will then prevent the follies of the people from becoming dangerous4 ,superstition is to be feared only when princes and soldiers rally round her standard2 then she becomes cruel and sanguinary4 ,every sovereign1 who is the protector of one sect or religious faction1 is commonly the tyrant of others1 and becomes himself the most cruel disturber of the peace of his dominions4 #adj4 ,it is incessantly repeated1 and many sensible persons are induced to believe1 that religion is a restraint necessary to men2 that without it1 there would no longer exist the least check for the vulgar2 and that morality and religion are intimately connected with it4 ,the fear of the ,lord1 cries the priest1 is the beginning of wisdom4 ,the terrors of another life are salutary1 and are proper to curb the passions of men4 ,to perceive the inutility of religious notions1 we have only to open our eyes and contemplate the morals of those nations1 who are the most under the dominion of religion4 ,we there find proud tyrants1 oppressive ministers1 perfidious courtiers1 shameless extortioners1 corrupt magistrates1 knaves1 adulterers1 debauchees1 prostitutes1 thieves1 and rogues of every kind1 who have never doubted either the existence of an avenging and rewarding ,god1 the torments of hell1 or the joys of paradise4 ,without the least utility to the greater part of mankind1 the ministers of religion have studied to render death terrible to the eyes of their followers4 ,if devout ,christians could but be consistent1 they would pass their whole life in tears1 and die under the most dreadful apprehensions4 ,what can be more terrible than death1 to the unfortunate who are told1 that it is horrible to fall into the hands of the living ,god2 that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling6 ,yet we are assured1 that the death of the ,christian is attended with infinite consolations1 of which the unbeliever is deprived4 ,the good ,christian1 it is said1 dies in the firm hope of an eternal happiness which he has strived to merit4 ,but is not this firm assurance itself a presumption punishable in the eyes of a severe ,god8 ,ought not the greatest saints to be ignorant whether they are worthy of love or hatred8 ,ye ,priests6 while consoling us with the hope of the joys of paradise2 have you then had the advantage to see your names and ours inscribed in the book of life8 #ada4 ,to oppose the passions and present interests of men the obscure notions of a metaphysical1 inconceivable ,god1--the incredible punishments of another life1--or the pleasures of the heaven1 of which nobody has the least idea1--is not this combating realities with fictions8 ,men have never any but confused ideas of their ,god3 they see him only in clouds4 ,they never think of him when they are desirous to do evil3 whenever ambition1 fortune1 or pleasure allures them1 ,god's threatenings and promises are forgotten4 ,in the things of this life1 there is a degree of certainty1 which the most lively faith cannot give to the things of another life4 ,every religion was originally a curb invented by legislators1 who wished to establish their authority over the minds of rude nations4 ,like nurses who frighten children to oblige them to be quiet1 the ambitious used the name of the gods to frighten savages2 and had recourse to terror in order to make them support quietly the yoke they wished to impose4 ,are then the bugbears of infancy made for riper age8 ,at the age of maturity1 no man longer believes them1 or if he does1 they excite little emotion in him1 and never alter his conduct4 #adb4 ,almost every man fears what he sees much more than what he does not see2 he fears the judgments of men of which he feels the effects1 more than the judgments of ,god of whom he has only fluctuating ideas4 ,the desire of pleasing the world1 the force of custom1 the fear of ridicule1 and of censure1 have more force than all religious opinions4 ,does not the soldier1 through fear of disgrace1 daily expose his life in battle1 even at the risk of incurring eternal damnation8 ,the most religious persons have often more respect for a varlet1 than for ,god4 ,a man who firmly believes1 that ,god sees every thing1 and that he is omniscient and omnipresent1 will be guilty1 when alone1 of actions1 which he would never do in presence of the meanest of mortals4 ,those1 who pretend to be the most fully convinced of the existence of ,god1 every moment act as if they believed the contrary4 #adc4 ,let us1 at least1 it will be said1 cherish the idea of a ,god1 which alone may serve as a barrier to the passions of kings4 ,but1 can we sincerely admire the wonderful effects1 which the fear of this ,god generally produces upon the minds of princes1 who are called his images8 ,what idea shall we form of the original1 if we judge of it by the copies6 ,sovereigns1 it is true1 call themselves the representatives of ,god1 his vicegerents upon earth4 ,but does the fear of a master1 more powerful than they are1 incline them seriously to study the welfare of the nations1 whom ,providence has intrusted to their care8 ,does the pretended terror1 which ought to be inspired into them by the idea of an invisible judge1 to whom alone they acknowledge themselves accountable for their actions1 render them more equitable1 more compassionate1 more sparing of blood and treasure of their subjects1 more temperate in their pleasures1 more attentive to their duties8 ,in fine1 does this ,god1 by whose authority kings reign1 deter them from inflicting a thousand evils upon the people to whom they ought to act as guides1 protectors1 and fathers8 ,alas6 ,if we survey the whole earth1 we shall see men almost every where governed by tyrants1 who use religion merely as an instrument to render more stupid the slaves1 whom they overwhelm under the weight of their vices1 or whom they sacrifice without mercy to their extravagancies4 ,far from being a check upon the passions of kings1 ,religion1 by its very principles1 frees them from all restraint4 ,it transforms them into divinities1 whose caprice the people are never permitted to resist4 ,while it gives up the reins to princes1 and on their part breaks the bonds of the social compact1 it endeavours to chain the minds and hands of their oppressed subjects4 ,is it then surprising1 that the gods of the earth imagine every thing lawful for them1 and regard their subjects only as instruments of their caprice or ambition8 ,in every country1 ,religion has represented the ,monarch of nature as a cruel1 fantastical1 partial tyrant1 whose caprice is law2 the ,monarch ,god1 is but too faithfully imitated by his representatives upon earth4 ,religion seems every where invented solely to lull the people in the lap of slavery1 in order that their masters may easily oppress them1 or render them wretched with impunity4 #add4 ,to guard against the enterprises of a haughty pontiff who wished to reign over kings1 to shelter their persons from the attempts of credulous nations excited by the priests1 several ,european princes have pretended to hold their crowns and rights from ,god alone1 and to be accountable only to him for their actions4 ,after a long contest between the civil and spiritual power1 the former at length triumphed2 and the priests1 forced to yield1 acknowledged the divine right of kings and preached them to the people1 reserving the liberty of changing their minds and of preaching revolt1 whenever the divine rights of kings clashed with the divine rights of the clergy4 ,it was always at the expense of nations1 that peace was concluded between kings and priests2 but the latter1 in spite of treaties1 always preserved their pretensions4 ,tyrants and wicked princes1 whose consciences continually reproach them with negligence or perversity1 far from fearing their ,god1 had rather deal with this invisible judge who never opposes any thing1 or with his priests who are always condescending to the rulers of the earth1 than with their own subjects4 ,the people1 reduced to despair1 might probably appeal from the divine right of their chiefs4 ,men when oppressed to the last degree1 sometimes become turbulent2 and the divine rights of the tyrant are then forced to yield to the natural rights of the subjects4 ,it is cheaper dealing with gods than men4 ,kings are accountable for their actions to ,god alone2 priests are accountable only to themselves4 ,there is much reason to believe1 that both are more confident of the indulgence of heaven1 than of that of earth4 ,it is much easier to escape the vengeance of gods who may be cheaply appeased1 than the vengeance of men whose patience is exhausted4 ,if you remove the fear of an invisible power1 what restraint will you impose upon the passions of sovereigns8 ,let them learn to reign2 let them learn to be just2 to respect the rights if the people2 and to acknowledge the kindness of the nations1 from whom they hold their greatness and power4 ,let them learn to fear men1 and to submit to the laws of equity4 ,let nobody transgress these laws with impunity2 and let them be equally binding upon the powerful and the weak1 the great and the small1 the sovereign and the subjects4 ,the fear of gods1 ,religion1 and the terrors of another life1 are the metaphysical and supernatural bulwarks1 opposed to the impetuous passions of princes6 ,are these bulwarks effectual8 ,let experience resolve the question4 ,to oppose ,religion to the wickedness of tyrants1 is to wish1 that vague1 uncertain1 unintelligible speculations may be stronger than propensities which every thing conspires daily to strengthen4 #ade4 ,the immense service of religion to politics is incessantly boasted2 but1 a little reflection will convince us1 that religious opinions equally blind both sovereigns and people1 and never enlighten them upon their true duties or interests4 ,religion but too often forms licentious1 immoral despots1 obeyed by slaves1 whom every thing obliges to conform to their views4 ,for want of having studied or known the true principles of administration1 the objects and rights of social life1 the real interests of men and their reciprocal duties1 princes1 in almost every country1 have become licentious1 absolute1 and perverse2 and their subjects abject1 wicked1 and unhappy4 ,it was to avoid the trouble of studying these important objects1 that recourse was had to chimeras1 which1 far from remedying any thing1 have hitherto only multiplied the evils of mankind1 and diverted them from whatever is most essential to their happiness4 ,does not the unjust and cruel manner in which so many nations are governed1 manifestly furnish one of the strongest proofs1 not only of the small effect produced by the fear of another life1 but also of the non-existence of a ,providence1 busied with the fate of the human race8 ,if there existed a good ,god1 should we not be forced to admit1 that in this life he strangely neglects the greater part of mankind8 ,it would seem1 that this ,god has created nations only to be the sport of the passions and follies of his representatives upon earth4 #adf4 ,by reading history with attention1 we shall perceive that ,christianity1 at first weak and servile1 established itself among the savage and free nations of ,europe only intimating to their chiefs1 that its religious principles favoured despotism and rendered them absolute4 ,consequently1 we see barbarous princes suddenly converted2 that is1 we see them adopt1 without examination1 a system so favourable to their ambition1 and use every art to induce their subjects to embrace it4 ,if the ministers of this religion have since often derogated from their favourite principles1 it is because the theory influences the conduct of the ministers of the ,lord1 only when it suits their temporal interests4 ,christianity boasts of procuring men a happiness unknown to preceding ages4 ,it is true1 the ,greeks knew not the divine rights of tyrants or of the usurpers of the rights of their country4 ,under paganism1 it never entered the head of any man to suppose1 that it was against the will of heaven for a nation to defend themselves against a ferocious beast1 who had the audacity to lay waste their possessions4 ,the religion of the ,christians was the first that screened tyrants from danger1 by laying down as a principle that the people must renounce the legitimate defence of themselves4 ,thus ,christian nations are deprived of the first law of nature1 which orders man to resist evil1 and to disarm whoever is preparing to destroy him6 ,if the ministers of the church have often permitted the people to revolt for the interest of heaven1 they have never permitted them to revolt for their own deliverance from real evils or known violences4 ,from heaven came the chains1 that were used for fettering the minds of mortals4 ,why is the ,mahometan every where a slave8 ,because his prophet enslaved him in the name of the ,deity1 as ,moses had before subdued the ,jews4 ,in all parts of the earth1 we see1 that the first legislators were the first sovereigns and the first priests of the savages1 to whom they gave laws4 ,religion seems invented solely to exalt princes above their nations1 and rivet the fetters of slavery4 ,as soon as the people are too unhappy here below1 priests are ready to silence them by threatening them with the anger of ,god4 ,they are made to fix their eyes upon heaven1 lest they should perceive the true causes of their misfortunes1 and apply the remedies which nature presents4 #adg4 ,by dint of repeating to men1 that the earth is not their true country2 that the present life is only a passage2 that they are not made to be happy in this world2 that their sovereigns hold their authority from ,god alone1 and are accountable only to him for the abuse of it2 that it is not lawful to resist them1 etc41 priests have eternized the misgovernment of kings and the misery of the people2 the interests of nations have been basely sacrificed to their chiefs4 ,the more we consider the dogmas and principles of religion1 the more we shall be convinced1 that their sole object is the advantage of tyrants and priests1 without regard to that of societies4 ,to mask the impotence of its deaf gods1 religion has persuaded mortals1 that iniquities always kindle the wrath of heaven4 ,people impute to themselves alone the disasters that daily befal them4 ,if nations sometimes feel the strokes of convulsed nature1 their bad governments are but too often the immediate and permanent causes1 from whence proceed the continual calamities which they are forced to endure4 ,are not the ambition1 negligence1 vices1 and oppressions of kings and nobles1 generally the causes of scarcity1 beggary1 wars1 pestilences1 corrupt morals1 and all the multiplied scourges which desolate the earth8 ,in fixing men's eyes continually upon heaven2 in persuading them1 that all their misfortunes are effects of divine anger2 in providing none but ineffectual and futile means to put an end to their sufferings1 we might justly conclude1 that the only object of priests was to divert nations from thinking about the true sources of their misery1 and thus to render it eternal4 ,the ministers of religion conduct themselves almost like those indigent mothers1 who1 for want of bread1 sing their starved children to sleep1 or give them playthings to divert their thoughts from afflicting hunger4 ,blinded by error from their very infancy1 restrained by the invisible bonds of opinion1 overcome by panic terrors1 their faculties blunted by ignorance1 how should the people know the true causes of their wretchedness8 ,they imagine that they can avert it by invoking the gods4 ,alas6 do they not see1 that it is1 in the name of these gods1 that they are ordered to present their throats to the sword of their merciless tyrants1 in whom they might find the obvious cause of the evils under which they groan1 and for whom they cease not to implore1 in vain1 the assistance of heaven8 ,ye credulous people6 ,in your misfortunes1 redouble your prayers1 offerings1 and sacrifices2 throng to your temples2 fast in sack-cloth and ashes2 bathe yourselves in your own tears2 and above all1 completely ruin yourselves to enrich your gods6 ,you will only enrich their priests4 ,the gods of heaven will be propitious1 only when the gods of the earth shall acknowledge themselves1 men1 like you1 and shall devote to your welfare the attention you deserve4 #adh4 ,negligent1 ambitious1 and perverse ,princes are the real causes of public misfortunes4 ,useless1 unjust ,wars depopulate the earth4 ,encroaching and despotic ,governments absorb the benefits of nature4 ,the rapacity of ,courts discourages agriculture1 extinguishes industry1 produces want1 pestilence and misery4 ,heaven is neither cruel nor propitious to the prayers of the people2 it is their proud chiefs1 who have almost always hearts of stone4 ,it is destructive to the morals of princes1 to persuade them that they have ,god alone to fear1 when they injure their subjects1 or neglect their happiness4 ,sovereigns6 ,it is not the gods1 but your people1 that you offend1 when you do evil4 ,it is your people and yourselves that you injure1 when you govern unjustly4 ,in history1 nothing is more common than to see ,religious ,tyrants2 nothing more rare than to find equitable1 vigilant1 enlightened princes4 ,a monarch may be pious1 punctual in a servile discharge of the duties of his religion1 very submissive and liberal to his priests1 and yet at the same time be destitute of every virtue and talent necessary for governing4 ,to princes1 ,religion is only an instrument destined to keep the people more completely under the yoke4 ,by the excellent principles of religious morality1 a tyrant who1 during a long reign1 has done nothing but oppress his subjects1 wresting1 from them the fruits of their labour1 sacrificing them without mercy to his insatiable ambition1--a conqueror1 who has usurped the provinces of others1 slaughtered whole nations1 and who1 during his whole life1 has been a scourge to mankind1--imagines his conscience may rest1 when1 to expiate so many crimes1 he has wept at the feet of a priest1 who generally has the base complaisance to console and encourage a robber1 whom the most hideous despair would too lightly punish for the misery he has caused upon earth4 #adi4 ,a sovereign1 sincerely devout1 is commonly dangerous to the state4 ,credulity always supposes a contracted mind2 devotion generally absorbs the attention1 which a prince should pay to the government of his people4 ,obsequious to the suggestions of his priests1 he becomes the sport of their caprices1 the favourer of their quarrels1 and the instrument and accomplice of their follies1 which he imagines to be of the greatest importance4 ,among the most fatal presents1 which religion has made the world1 ought to be reckoned those devout and zealous monarchs1 who1 under an idea of working for the welfare of their subjects1 have made it a sacred duty to torment1 persecute1 and destroy those1 who thought differently from themselves4 ,a bigot1 at the head of an empire1 is one of the greatest scourges4 ,a single fanatical or knavish priest1 listened to by a credulous and powerful prince1 suffices to put a state in disorder4 ,in almost all countries1 priests and pious persons are intrusted with forming the minds and hearts of young princes1 destined to govern nations4 ,what qualifications have instructors of this stamp6 ,by what interests can they be animated8 ,full of prejudices themselves1 they will teach their pupil to regard superstition1 as most important and sacred2 its chimerical duties1 as most indispensable1 intolerance and persecution1 as the true foundation of his future authority4 ,they will endeavour to make him a party leader1 a turbulent fanatic1 a tyrant2 they will early stifle his reason1 and forewarn him against the use of it2 they will prevent truth from reaching his ears2 they will exasperate him against true talents1 and prejudice him in favour of contemptible ones2 in short1 they will make him a weak devotee1 who will have no idea either of justice or injustice1 nor of true glory1 nor of true greatness1 and who will be destitute of the knowledge and virtues necessary to the government of a great nation4 ,such is the plan of the education of a child1 destined one day to create the happiness or misery of millions of men6 #aej4 ,priests have ever shewn themselves the friends of despotism1 and the enemies of public liberty3 their trade requires abject and submissive slaves1 who have never the audacity to reason4 ,in an absolute government1 who ever gains an ascendancy over the mind of a weak and stupid prince1 becomes master of the state4 ,instead of conducting the people to salvation1 priests have always conducted them to servitude4 ,in consideration of the supernatural titles1 which religion has forged for the worst of princes1 the latter have commonly united with priests1 who1 sure of governing by opinion the sovereign himself1 have undertaken to bind the hands of the people and to hold them under the yoke4 ,but the tyrant1 covered with the shield of religion1 in vain flatters himself that he is secure from every stroke of fate2 opinion is a weak rampart against the despair of the people4 ,besides1 the priest is a friend of the tyrant only while he finds his account in tyranny2 he preaches sedition1 and demolishes the idol he has made1 when he finds it no longer sufficiently conformable to the interest of ,god1 whom he makes to speak at his will1 and who never speaks except according to his interests4 ,it will no doubt be said1 that sovereigns1 knowing all the advantages which religion procures them1 are truly interested in supporting it with all their strength4 ,if religious opinions are useful to tyrants1 it is very evident1 that they are useful to those1 who govern by the laws of reason and equity4 ,is there then any advantage in exercising tyranny8 ,are princes truly interested in being tyrants8 ,does not tyranny deprive them of true power1 of the love of the people1 and of all safety8 ,ought not every reasonable prince to perceive1 that the despot is a madman1 and an enemy to himself8 ,should not every enlightened prince beware of flatterers1 whose object is to lull him to sleep upon the brink of the precipice which they form beneath him8 #aea4 ,if sacerdotal flatteries succeed in perverting princes and making them tyrants2 tyrants1 on their part1 necessarily corrupt both the great and the humble4 ,under an unjust ruler1 void of goodness and virtue1 who knows no law but his caprice1 a nation must necessarily be depraved4 ,will this ruler wish to have1 about his person1 honest1 enlightened1 and virtuous men8 ,no4 ,he wants none but flatterers1 approvers1 imitators1 slaves1 base and servile souls1 who conform themselves to his inclinations4 ,his court will propagate the contagion of vice among the lower ranks4 ,all will gradually become corrupted in a state1 whose chief is corrupt4 ,it was long since said1 that ,princes seem to command others to do whatever they do themselves4 ,religion1 far from being a restraint upon sovereigns1 enables them to indulge without fear or remorse1 in acts of licentiousness as injurious to themselves1 as to the nations whom they govern4 ,it is never with impunity1 that men are deceived4 ,tell a sovereign1 that he is a god2 he will very soon believe that he owes nothing to any one4 ,provided he is feared1 he will care very little about being loved3 he will observe neither rules1 nor relations with his subjects1 nor duties towards them4 ,tell this prince1 that he is accountable for his actions to ,god alone1 and he will soon act as if he were accountable to no one4 #aeb4 ,an enlightened sovereign is he1 who knows his true interests2 who knows1 that they are connected with the interests of his nation2 that a prince cannot be great1 powerful1 beloved1 or respected1 while he commands only unhappy slaves2 that equity1 beneficence1 and vigilance will give him more real authority over his people1 than the fabulous titles1 said to be derived from heaven4 ,he will see1 that ,religion is useful only to priests1 that it is useless to society and often troubles it1 and that it ought to be restrained in order to be prevented from doing injury4 ,finally1 he will perceive1 that1 to reign with glory1 he must have good laws and inculcate virtue1 and not found his power upon impostures and fallacies4 #aec4 ,the ministers of religion have taken great care to make of their ,god1 a formidable1 capricious1 and fickle tyrant4 ,such a ,god was necessary to their variable interests4 ,a ,god1 who should be just and good1 without mixture of caprice or perversity2 a ,god1 who had constantly the qualities of an honest man1 or of a kind sovereign1 would by no means suit his ministers4 ,it is useful to priests1 that men should tremble before their ,god1 in order that they may apply to them to obtain relief from their fears4 ,no man is a hero before his valet de chambre4 ,it is not surprising1 that a ,god1 dressed up by his priests so as to be terrible to others1 should rarely impose upon them1 or should have but very little influence upon their conduct4 ,hence1 in every country1 their conduct is very much the same4 ,under pretext of the glory of their ,god1 they every where prey upon ignorance1 degrade the mind1 discourage industry1 and sow discord4 ,ambition and avarice have at all times been the ruling passions of the priesthood4 ,the priest every where rises superior to sovereigns and laws2 we see him every where occupied with the interests of his pride1 of his cupidity1 and of his despotic1 revengeful humour4 ,in the room of useful and social virtues1 he everywhere substitutes expiations1 sacrifices1 ceremonies1 mysterious practices1 in a word1 inventions lucrative to himself and ruinous to others4 ,the mind is confounded and the reason is amazed upon viewing the ridiculous customs and pitiful means1 which the ministers of the gods have invented in every country to purify souls1 and render heaven favourable4 ,here they cut off part of a child's prepuce1 to secure for him divine benevolence2 there1 they pour water upon his head1 to cleanse him of crimes1 which he could not as yet have committed4 ,in one place1 they command him to plunge into a river1 whose waters have the power of washing away all stains2 in another1 he is forbidden to eat certain food1 the use of which will not fail to excite the celestial wrath2 in other countries1 they enjoin upon sinful man to come periodically and confess his faults to a priest1 who is often a greater sinner than himself1 etc41 etc41 etc4 #aed4 ,what should we say of a set of empirics1 who1 resorting every day to a public place1 should extol the goodness of their remedies1 and vend them as infallible1 while they themselves were full of the infirmities1 which they pretend to cure8 ,should we have much confidence in the recipes of these quacks1 though they stun us with crying1 take our remedies1 their effects are infallible2 they cure every body2 except us4 ,what should we afterwards think1 should those quacks spend their lives in complaining1 that their remedies never produced the desired effect upon the sick1 who take them8 ,in fine1 what idea should we form of the stupidity of the vulgar1 who1 notwithstanding these confessions1 should not cease to pay dearly for remedies1 the inefficacy of which every thing tends to prove8 ,priests resemble these alchymists1 who boldly tell us1 they have the secret of making gold1 while they have scarcely clothes to cover their nakedness4 ,the ministers of religion incessantly declaim against the corruption of the age1 and loudly complain of the little effect of their lessons1 while at the same time they assure us1 that religion is the universal remedy1 the true panacea against the wickedness of mankind4 ,these priests are very sick themselves1 yet men continue to frequent their shops1 and to have faith in their divine antidotes1 which1 by their own confession1 never effect a cure6 #aee4 ,religion1 especially with the moderns1 has tried to identify itself with ,morality1 the principles of which it has thereby totally obscured4 ,it has rendered men unsociable by duty1 and forced them to be inhuman to everyone who thought differently from themselves4 ,theological disputes1 equally unintelligible to each of the enraged parties1 have shaken empires1 caused revolutions1 been fatal to sovereigns1 and desolated all ,europe4 ,these contemptible quarrels have not been extinguished even in rivers of blood4 ,since the extinction of paganism1 the people have made it a religious principle to become outrageous1 whenever any opinion is advanced which their priests think contrary to sound doctrine4 ,the sectaries of a religion1 which preaches1 in appearance1 nothing but charity1 concord1 and peace1 have proved themselves more ferocious than cannibals or savages1 whenever their divines excited them to destroy their brethren4 ,there is no crime1 which men have not committed under the idea of pleasing the ,divinity1 or appeasing his wrath4 ,the idea of a terrible ,god1 whom we paint to ourselves as a despot1 must necessarily render his subjects wicked4 ,fear makes only slaves1 and slaves are cowardly1 base1 cruel1 and think every thing lawful1 in order to gain the favour or escape the chastisements of the master whom they fear4 ,liberty of thinking alone can give men humanity and greatness of soul4 ,the notion of a tyrant-god tends only to make them abject1 morose1 quarrelsome1 intolerant slaves4 ,every religion1 which supposes a ,god easily provoked1 jealous1 revengeful1 punctilious about his rights or the etiquette with which he is treated2--a ,god little enough to be hurt by the opinions which men can form of him2--a ,god unjust enough to require that we have uniform notions of his conduct2 a religion which supposes such a ,god necessarily becomes restless1 unsociable1 and sanguinary2 the worshippers of such a ,god would never think1 that they could1 without offence1 forbear hating and even destroying every one1 who is pointed out to them1 as an adversary of this ,god2 they would think1 that it would be to betray the cause of their celestial ,monarch1 to live in friendly intercourse with rebellious fellow-citizens4 ,if we love what ,god hates1 do we not expose ourselves to his implacable hatred8 ,infamous persecutors1 and devout men-haters6 ,will you never discern the folly and injustice of your intolerant disposition8 ,do you not see1 that man is no more master of his religious opinions1 his belief or unbelief1 than of the language1 which he learns from infancy8 ,to punish a man for his errors1 is it not to punish him for having been educated differently from you8 ,if ,i am an unbeliever1 is it possible for me to banish from my mind the reasons that have shaken my faith8 ,if your ,god gives men leave to be damned1 what have you to meddle with8 ,are you more prudent and wise1 than this ,god1 whose rights you would avenge8 #aef4 ,there is no devotee1 who does not1 according to his temperament1 hate1 despise1 or pity the adherents of a sect1 different from his own4 ,the established religion1 which is never any other than that of the sovereign and the armies1 always makes its superiority felt in a very cruel and injurious manner by the weaker sects4 ,as yet there is no true toleration upon earth2 men every where adore a jealous ,god1 of whom each nation believes itself the friend1 to the exclusion of all others4 ,every sect boasts of adoring alone the true ,god1 the universal ,god1 the ,sovereign of all nature4 ,but when we come to examine this ,monarch of the world1 we find that every society1 sect1 party1 or religious cabal1 makes of this powerful ,god only a pitiful sovereign1 whose care and goodness extend only to a small number of his subjects1 who pretend that they alone have the happiness to enjoy his favours1 and that he is not at all concerned about the others4 ,the founders of religions1 and the priests who support them1 evidently proposed to separate the nations1 whom they taught1 from the other nations2 they wished to separate their own flock by distinguishing marks2 they gave their followers gods1 who were hostile to the other gods2 they taught them modes of worship1 dogmas and ceremonies apart2 and above all1 they persuaded them1 that the religion of others was impious and abominable4 ,by this unworthy artifice1 the ambitious knaves established1 their usurpation over the minds of their followers1 rendered them unsociable1 and made them regard with an evil eye all persons who had not the same mode of worship and the same ideas as they had4 ,thus it is1 that ,religion has shut up the heart and for ever banished from it the affection that man ought to have for his fellow-creature4 ,sociability1 indulgence1 humanity1 those first virtues of all morality1 are totally incompatible with religious prejudices4 #aeg4 ,every national religion is calculated to make man vain1 unsociable1 and wicked2 the first step towards humanity is to permit every one peaceably to embrace the mode of worship and opinions1 which he judges to be right4 ,but this conduct cannot be pleasing to the ministers of religion1 who wish to have the right of tyrannizing over men even in their thoughts4 ,blind and bigoted princes6 ,you hate and persecute heretics1 and order them to execution1 because you are told1 that these wretches displease ,god4 ,but do you not say1 that your ,god is full of goodness8 ,how then can you expect to please him by acts of barbarity1 which he must necessarily disapprove8 ,besides1 who has informed you1 that their opinions displease your ,god8 ,your priests8 ,but1 who assures you1 that your priests are not themselves deceived or wish to deceive you8 ,the same priests8 ,princes6 ,it is then upon the hazardous word of your priests1 that you commit the most atrocious crimes1 under the idea of pleasing the ,divinity6 #aeh4 ,pascal says1 that man never does evil so fully and cheerfully1 as when he acts from a false principle of conscience4 ,nothing is more dangerous than a religion1 which lets loose the ferocity of the multitude1 and justifies their blackest crimes4 ,they will set no bounds to their wickedness1 when they think it authorized by their ,god1 whose interests1 they are told1 can make every action legitimate4 ,is religion in danger8--the most civilized people immediately becomes true savages1 and think nothing forbidden4 ,the more cruel they are1 the more agreeable they suppose they are to their ,god1 whose cause they imagine cannot be supported with too much warmth4 ,all religions have authorized innumerable crimes4 ,the ,jews1 intoxicated with the promises of their ,god1 arrogated the rights of exterminating whole nations4 ,relying on the oracles of their ,god1 the ,romans conquered and ravaged the world4 ,the ,arabians1 encouraged by their divine prophet1 carried fire and sword among the ,christians and the idolaters4 ,the ,,christians1 under pretext of extending their holy religion1 have often deluged both hemispheres in blood4 ,in all events favourable to their own interest1 which they always call the cause of ,god1 priests show us the finger of ,god4 ,according to these principles1 the devout have the happiness to see the finger of ,god in revolts1 revolutions1 massacres1 regicides1 crimes1 prostitutions1 horrors2 and1 if these things contribute ever so little to the triumph of religion1 we are told1 that ,god uses all sorts of means to attain his ends4 ,is any thing more capable of effacing every idea of morality from the minds of men1 than to inform them1 that their ,god1 so powerful and perfect1 is often forced to make use of criminal actions in order to accomplish his designs8 #aei4 ,no sooner do we complain of the extravagancies and evils1 which ,religion has so often caused upon the earth1 than we are reminded1 that these excesses are not owing to ,religion2 but that they are the sad effects of the passions of men4 ,but ,i would ask1 what has let loose these passions8 ,it is evidently ,religion2 it is zeal1 that renders men inhuman1 and serves to conceal the greatest atrocities4 ,do not these disorders then prove1 that religion1 far from restraining the passions of men1 only covers them with a veil1 which sanctifies them1 and that nothing would be more useful1 than to tear away this sacred veil of which men often make such a terrible use8 ,what horrors would be banished from society1 if the wicked were deprived of so plausible a pretext for disturbing it6 ,instead of being angels of peace among men1 priests have been demons of discord4 ,they have pretended to receive from heaven the right of being quarrelsome1 turbulent1 and rebellious4 ,do not the ministers of the ,lord think themselves aggrieved1 and pretend that the divine ,majesty is offended1 whenever sovereigns have the temerity to prevent them from doing evil8 ,priests are like the spiteful woman who cried fire6 murder6 assassination6 while her husband held her hands to prevent her from striking him4 #afj4 ,notwithstanding the bloody tragedies1 which ,religion often acts1 it is insisted1 that1 without ,religion1 there can be no ,morality4 ,if we judge theological opinions by their effects1 we may confidently assert1 that all ,morality is perfectly incompatible with men's religious opinions4 ,imitate ,god1 exclaim the pious4 ,but1 what would be our ,morality1 should we imitate this ,god6 and what ,god ought we to imitate8 ,the ,god of the ,deist8 ,but even this ,god cannot serve us as a very constant model of goodness4 ,if he is the author of all things1 he is the author both of good and evil4 ,if he is the author of order1 he is also the author of disorder1 which could not take place without his permission4 ,if he produces1 he destroys2 if he gives life1 he takes it away2 if he grants abundance1 riches1 prosperity1 and peace1 he permits or sends scarcity1 poverty1 calamities1 and wars4 ,how then can we receive as a model of permanent beneficence1 the ,god of ,deism or natural religion1 whose favourable dispositions are every instant contradicted by all the effects we behold8 ,morality must have a basis less tottering than the example of a ,god1 whose conduct varies1 and who cannot be called good1 unless we obstinately shut our eyes against the evil which he causes or permits in this world4 ,shall we imitate the beneficent1 mighty ,jupiter of heathen antiquity8 ,to imitate such a god1 is to admit as a model1 a rebellious son1 who ravishes the throne from his father4 ,it is to imitate a debauchee1 an adulterer1 one guilty of incest and of base passions1 at whose conduct every reasonable mortal would blush4 ,what would have been the condition of men under paganism1 had they imagined1 like ,plato1 that virtue consisted in imitating the gods6 ,must we imitate the ,god of the ,jews6 ,shall we find in ,jehovah a model for our conduct8 ,this is a truly savage god1 made for a stupid1 cruel1 and immoral people2 he is always furious1 breathes nothing but vengeance1 commands carnage1 theft1 and unsociability4 ,the conduct of this god cannot serve as a model to that of an honest man1 and can be imitated only by a chief of robbers4 ,shall we then imitate the ,jesus of the ,christians8 ,does this ,god1 who died to appease the implacable fury of his father1 furnish us an example which men ought to follow8 ,alas6 we shall see in him only a ,god1 or rather a fanatic1 a misanthrope1 who1 himself plunged in wretchedness and preaching to wretches1 will advise them to be poor1 to combat with and stifle nature1 to hate pleasure1 seek grief1 and detest themselves4 ,he will tell them to leave father1 mother1 relations1 friends1 etc41 to follow him4 ,fine morality6 you say4 ,it is1 undoubtedly1 admirable3 it must be divine1 for it is impracticable to men4 ,but is not such sublime morality calculated to render virtue odious8 ,according to the so much boasted morality of the man-,god of the ,christians1 a disciple of his in this world must be like ,tantalus1 tormented with a burning thirst1 which he is not allowed to quench4 ,does not such morality give us a wonderful idea of the author of nature8 ,if1 as we are assured1 he has created all things for his creatures1 by what strange whim does he forbid them the use of the goods he has created for them8 ,is pleasure then1 which man continually desires1 only a snare1 which ,god has maliciously laid to surprise his weakness8 #afa4 ,the followers of ,christ would have us regard1 as a miracle1 the establishment of their ,religion1 which is totally repugnant to nature1 opposite to all the propensities of the heart1 and inimical to sensual pleasures4 ,but the austerity of a doctrine renders it the more marvellous in the eyes of the vulgar4 ,the same disposition1 which respects inconceivable mysteries as divine and supernatural1 admires1 as divine and supernatural1 a ,morality1 that is impracticable1 and beyond the powers of man4 ,to admire a system of ,morality1 and to put it in practice1 are two very different things4 ,all ,christians admire and extol the ,morality of the gospel2 which they do not practise4 ,the whole world is more or less infected with a ,religious morality1 founded upon the opinion1 that to please the ,divinity1 it is absolutely necessary to render ourselves unhappy upon earth4 ,in all parts of our globe1 we see penitents1 fakirs1 and fanatics1 who seem to have profoundly studied the means of tormenting themselves1 in honour of a being whose goodness all agree in celebrating4 ,religion1 by its essence1 is an enemy to the joy and happiness of men4 ,blessed are the poor1 blessed are they1 who weep2 blessed are they1 who suffer2 misery to those1 who are in abundance and joy4 ,such are the rare discoveries1 announced by ,christianity6 #afb4 ,what is a ,saint in every religion8 ,a man1 who prays1 and fasts1 who torments himself1 and shuns the world2 who like an owl1 delights only in solitude1 abstains from all pleasure1 and seems frightened of every object1 which may divert him from his fanatical meditations4 ,is this virtue8 ,is a being of this type1 kind to himself1 or useful to others8 ,would not society be dissolved1 and man return to a savage state1 if every one were fool enough to be a ,saint8 ,it is evident1 that the literal and rigorous practice of the divine ,morality of the ,christians would prove the infallible ruin of nations4 ,a ,christian1 aiming at perfection1 ought to free his mind from whatever can divert it from heaven1 his true country4 ,upon earth1 he sees nothing but temptations1 snares1 and rocks of perdition4 ,he must fear science1 as hurtful to faith2 he must avoid industry1 as a means of obtaining riches1 too fatal to salvation2 he must renounce offices and honours1 as capable of exciting his pride1 and calling off his attention from the care of his soul4 ,in a word1 the sublime ,morality of ,christ1 were it practicable1 would break all the bonds of society4 ,a ,saint in society is as useless1 as a ,saint in the desert2 his humour is morose1 discontented1 and often turbulent2 his zeal sometimes obliges him in conscience to trouble society by opinions or dreams1 which his vanity makes him consider as inspirations from on high4 ,the annals of every religion are full of restless ,saints1 intractable ,saints1 and seditious ,saints1 who have become famous by the ravages1 with which1 for the greater glory of ,god1 they have desolated the universe4 ,if ,saints1 who live in retirement1 are useless1 those who live in the world1 are often very dangerous4 ,the vanity of acting1 the desire of appearing illustrious and peculiar in conduct1 commonly constitute the distinguishing character of ,saints4 ,pride persuades them1 that they are extraordinary men far above human nature1 beings much more perfect than others1 favourites whom ,god regards with much more complaisance than the rest of mortals4 ,humility1 in a ,saint1 is commonly only a more refined pride than that of the generality of men4 ,nothing but the most ridiculous vanity can induce man to wage continual war against his own nature4 #afc4 ,a morality1 which contradicts the nature of man1 is not made for man4 ,but1 say you1 the nature of man is depraved4 ,in what consists this pretended depravity8 ,in having passions8 ,but1 are not passions essential to man8 ,is he not obliged to seek1 desire1 and love what is1 or what he thinks is1 conducive to his happiness8 ,is he not forced to fear and avoid what he judges disagreeable or fatal8 ,kindle his passions for useful objects2 connect his welfare with those objects2 divert him1 by sensible and known motives1 from what may injure either him or others1 and you will make him a reasonable and virtuous being4 ,a man without passions would be equally indifferent to vice and to virtue4 ,holy ,doctors6 you are always repeating to us that the nature of man is perverted2 you exclaim1 that all flesh has corrupted its way1 that all the propensities of nature have become inordinate4 ,in this case1 you accuse your ,god2 who was either unable1 or unwilling1 that this nature should preserve its primitive perfection4 ,if this nature is corrupted1 why has not ,god repaired it8 ,the ,christian immediately assures me1 that human nature is repaired2 that the death of his ,god has restored its integrity4 ,how then1 ,i would ask1 do you pretend that human nature1 notwithstanding the death of a ,god1 is still depraved8 ,is then the death of your ,god wholly fruitless8 ,what becomes of his omnipotence and of his victory over the ,devil1 if it is true that the ,devil still preserves the empire1 which1 according to you1 he has always exercised in the world8 ,according to ,christian theology1 ,death is the wages of sin4 ,this opinion is conformable to that of some negro and savage nations1 who imagine that the ,death of a man is always the supernatural effect of the anger of the ,gods4 ,christians firmly believe1 that ,christ has delivered them from sin2 though they see1 that1 in their ,religion1 as in others1 man is subject to ,death4 ,to say that ,jesus ,christ has delivered us from sin1 is it not to say1 that a judge has pardoned a criminal1 while we see that he leaves him for execution8 #afd4 ,if shutting our eyes upon whatever passes in the world1 we would credit the partisans of the ,christian ,religion1 we should believe1 that the coming of their divine ,saviour produced the most wonderful and complete reform in the morals of nations4 ,if we examine the ,morals of ,christian nations1 and listen to the clamours of their priests1 we shall be forced to conclude1 that ,jesus ,christ1 their ,god1 preached and died1 in vain2 his omnipotent will still finds in men1 a resistance1 over which he cannot1 or will not triumph4 ,the ,morality of this divine ,teacher1 which his disciples so much admire and so little practise1 is followed1 in a whole century only by half a dozen obscure saints1 and fanatics1 and unknown monks1 who alone will have the glory of shining in the celestial court1 while all the rest of mortals1 though redeemed by the blood of this ,god1 will be the prey of eternal flames4 #afe4 ,when a man is strongly inclined to sin1 he thinks very little about his ,god4 ,nay more1 whatever crimes he has committed1 he always flatters himself1 that this ,god will soften1 in his favour1 the rigour of his decrees4 ,no mortal seriously believes1 that his conduct can damn him4 ,though he fears a terrible ,god1 who often makes him tremble1 yet1 whenever he is strongly tempted1 he yields2 and he afterwards sees only the ,god of mercies1 the idea of whom calms his apprehensions4 ,if a man commits evil1 he hopes1 he shall have time to reform1 and promises to repent at a future day4 ,in religious pharmacy1 there are infallible prescriptions to quiet consciences3 priests1 in every country1 possess sovereign secrets to disarm the anger of heaven4 ,yet1 if it be true that the ,deity is appeased by prayers1 offerings1 sacrifices1 and penances1 it can no longer be said1 that ,religion is a check to the irregularities of men2 they will first sin1 and then seek the means to appease ,god4 ,every ,religion1 which expiates crime and promises a remission of them1 if it restrain some persons1 encourages the majority to commit evil4 ,notwithstanding his immutability1 ,god1 in every ,religion1 is a true ,proteus4 ,his priests represent him at one time armed with severity1 at another full of clemency and mildness2 sometimes cruel and unmerciful1 and sometimes easily melted by the sorrow and tears of sinners4 ,consequently1 men see the ,divinity only on the side most conformable to their present interests4 ,a ,god always angry would discourage his worshippers1 or throw them into despair4 ,men must have a ,god1 who is both irritable1 and placable4 ,if his anger frightens some timorous souls1 his clemency encourages the resolutely wicked1 who depend upon recurring1 sooner or later1 to the means of accommodation4 ,if the judgments of ,god terrify some faint-hearted pious persons1 who by constitution and habit are not prone to evil1 the treasures of divine mercy encourage the greatest criminals1 who have reason to hope they participate therein equally with the others4 #aff4 ,most men seldom think of ,god1 or1 at least1 bestow on him serious attention4 ,the only ideas we can form of him are so devoid of object1 and are at the same time so afflicting1 that the only imaginations they can arrest are those of melancholy hypochondriacs1 who do not constitute the majority of the inhabitants of this world4 ,the vulgar have no conception of ,god2 their weak brains are confused1 whenever they think of him4 ,the man of business thinks only of his business2 the courtier of his intrigues2 men of fashion1 women1 and young people of their pleasures2 dissipation soon effaces in them all the fatiguing notions of ,religion4 ,the ambitious man1 the miser and the debauchee carefully avoid speculations too feeble to counterbalance their various passions4 ,who is awed by the idea of a ,god8 ,a few enfeebled men1 morose and disgusted with the world2 a few1 in whom the passions are already deadened by age1 by infirmity1 or by the strokes of fortune4 ,religion is a check1 to those alone who by their state of mind and body1 or by fortuitous circumstances1 have been already brought to reason4 ,the fear of ,god hinders from sin only those1 who are not much inclined to it1 or else those who are no longer able to commit it4 ,to tell men1 that the ,deity punishes crimes in this world1 is to advance an assertion1 which experience every moment contradicts4 ,the worst of men are commonly the arbiters of the world1 and are those whom fortune loads with her favours4 ,to refer us to another life1 in order to convince us of the judgments of ,god1 is to refer us to conjectures1 in order to destroy facts1 which cannot be doubted4 #afg4 ,nobody thinks of the life to come1 when he is strongly smitten with the objects he finds here below4 ,in the eyes of a passionate lover1 the presence of his mistress extinguishes the flames of hell1 and her charms efface all the pleasures of paradise4 ,woman6 you leave1 say you1 your lover for your ,god4 ,this is either because your lover is no longer the same in your eyes1 or because he leaves you4 ,nothing is more common1 than to see ambitious1 perverse1 corrupt1 and immoral men1 who have some ideas of ,religion1 and sometimes appear even zealous for its interest4 ,if they do not practise it at present1 they hope to in the future4 ,they lay it up1 as a remedy1 which will be necessary to salve the conscience for the evil they intend to commit4 ,besides1 the party of devotees and priests being very numerous1 active1 and powerful1 is it not astonishing1 that rogues and knaves seek its support to attain their ends8 ,it will undoubtedly be said1 that many honest people are sincerely religious1 and that without profit2 but is uprightness of heart always accompanied with knowledge8 ,it is urged1 that many learned men1 many men of genius have been strongly attached to ,religion4 ,this proves1 that men of genius may have prejudices1 be pusillanimous1 and have an imagination1 which misleads them and prevents them from examining subjects coolly4 ,pascal proves nothing in favour of ,religion1 unless that a man of genius may be foolish on some subjects1 and is but a child1 when he is weak enough to listen to his prejudices4 ,pascal himself tells us1 that the mind may be strong and contracted1 enlarged and weak4 ,he previously observes1 that a man may have a sound mind1 and not understand every subject equally well2 for there are some1 who1 having a sound judgment in a certain order of things1 are bewildered in others4 #afh4 ,what is virtue according to theology8 ,it is1 we are told1 the conformity of the actions of man to the will of ,god4 ,but1 what is ,god8 ,a being1 of whom nobody has the least conception1 and whom every one consequently modifies in his own way4 ,what is the will of ,god8 ,it is what men1 who have seen ,god1 or whom ,god has inspired1 have declared to be the will of ,god4 ,who are those1 who have seen ,god8 ,they are either fanatics1 or rogues1 or ambitious men1 whom we cannot believe4 ,to found ,morality upon a ,god1 whom every man paints to himself differently1 composes in his way1 and arranges according to his own temperament and interest1 is evidently to found ,morality upon the caprice and imagination of men2 it is to found it upon the whims of a sect1 a faction1 a party1 who believe they have the advantage to adore a true ,god to the exclusion of all others4 ,to establish ,morality or the duties of man upon the divine will1 is to found it upon the will1 the reveries and the interests of those1 who make ,god speak1 without ever fearing that he will contradict them4 ,in every ,religion1 priests alone have a right to decide what is pleasing or displeasing to their ,god1 and we are certain they will always decide1 that it is what pleases or displeases themselves4 ,the dogmas1 the ceremonies1 the morals1 and the virtues1 prescribed by every ,religion1 are visibly calculated only to extend the power or augment the emoluments of the founders and ministers of these ,religions4 ,the dogmas are obscure1 inconceivable1 frightful1 and are therefore well calculated to bewilder the imagination and to render the vulgar more obsequious to the will of those who wish to domineer over them4 ,the ceremonies and practices procure the priests1 riches or respect4 ,religion consists in a submissive faith1 which prohibits the exercise of reason2 in a devout humility1 which insures priests the submission of their slaves2 in an ardent zeal1 when ,religion1 that is1 when the interest of these priests1 is in danger4 ,the only object of all religions is evidently the advantage of its ministers4 #afi4 ,when we reproach theologians with the barrenness of their divine virtues1 they emphatically extol charity1 that tender love of one's neighbour1 which ,christianity makes an essential duty of its disciples4 ,but1 alas6 what becomes of this pretended charity1 when we examine the conduct of the ministers of the ,lord8 ,ask them1 whether we must love or do good to our neighbour1 if he be an impious man1 a heretic1 or an infidel1 that is1 if he do not think like them8 ,ask them1 whether we must tolerate opinions contrary to those of the religion1 they profess8 ,ask them1 whether the sovereign can show indulgence to those who are in error8 ,their charity instantly disappears1 and the established clergy will tell you1 that the prince bears the sword only to support the cause of the ,most ,high3 they will tell you that1 through love for our neighbour1 we must prosecute1 imprison1 exile1 and burn him4 ,you will find no toleration except among a few priests1 persecuted themselves1 who will lay aside ,christian charity the instant they have power to persecute in their turn4 ,the ,christian religion1 in its origin preached by beggars and miserable men1 under the name of charity1 strongly recommends alms4 ,the religion of ,mahomet also enjoins it as an indispensable duty4 ,nothing undoubtedly is more conformable to humanity1 than to succour the unfortunate1 to clothe the naked1 to extend the hand of beneficence to every one in distress4 ,but would it not be more humane and charitable to prevent the source of misery and poverty8 ,if ,religion1 instead of deifying princes1 had taught them to respect the property of their subjects1 to be just1 to exercise only their lawful rights1 we should not be shocked by the sight of such a multitude of beggars4 ,a rapacious1 unjust1 tyrannical government multiplies misery2 heavy taxes produce discouragement1 sloth1 and poverty1 which in their turn beget robberies1 assassinations1 and crimes of every description4 ,had sovereigns more humanity1 charity1 and equity1 their dominions would not be peopled by so many wretches1 whose misery it becomes impossible to alleviate4 ,christian and ,mahometan states are full of large hospitals1 richly endowed1 in which we admire the pious charity of the kings and sultans1 who erected them4 ,but would it not have been more humane to govern the people justly1 to render them happy1 to excite and favour industry and commerce1 and to let men enjoy in safety the fruit of their labours1 than to crush them under a despotic yoke1 to impoverish them by foolish wars1 to reduce them to beggary1 in order that luxury may be satisfied1 and then to erect splendid buildings1 which can contain but a very small portion of those1 who have been rendered miserable8 ,religion has only deluded men2 instead of preventing evils1 it always applies ineffectual remedies4 ,the ministers of heaven have always known how to profit by the calamities of others4 ,public misery is their element4 ,they have every where become administrators of the property of the poor1 distributors of alms1 depositaries of charitable donations2 and thereby they have at all times extended and supported their power over the unhappy1 who generally compose the most numerous1 restless1 and seditious part of society4 ,thus the greatest evils turn to the profit of the ministers of the ,lord4 ,christian priests tell us1 that the property they possess is the property of the poor1 and that it is therefore sacred4 ,consequently they have eagerly accumulated lands1 revenues1 and treasures4 ,under colour of charity1 spiritual guides have become extremely opulent1 and in the face of impoverished nations enjoy wealth1 which was destined solely for the unfortunate2 while the latter1 far from murmuring1 applaud a pious generosity1 which enriches the church1 but rarely contributes to the relief of the poor4 ,according to the principles of ,christianity1 poverty itself is a virtue2 indeed1 it is the virtue1 which sovereigns and priests oblige their slaves to observe most rigorously4 ,with this idea1 many pious ,christians have of their own accord renounced riches1 distributed their patrimony among the poor1 and retired into deserts1 there to live in voluntary indigence4 ,but this enthusiasm1 this supernatural taste for misery1 has been soon forced to yield to nature4 ,the successors of these volunteers in poverty sold to the devout people their prayers1 and their intercessions with the ,deity4 ,they became rich and powerful4 ,thus monks and hermits lived in indolence1 and under colour of charity1 impudently devoured the substance of the poor4 ,the species of poverty1 most esteemed by ,religion1 is poverty of mind4 ,the fundamental virtue of every ,religion1 most useful to its ministers1 is faith4 ,it consists in unbounded credulity1 which admits1 without enquiry1 whatever the interpreters of the ,deity are interested in making men believe4 ,by the aid of this wonderful virtue1 priests became the arbiters of right and wrong1 of good and evil3 they could easily cause the commission of crimes to advance their interest4 ,implicit faith has been the source of the greatest outrages that have been committed4 #agj4 ,he1 who first taught nations1 that1 when we wrong ,man1 we must ask pardon of ,god1 appease him by presents1 and offer him sacrifices1 evidently destroyed the true principles of ,morality4 ,according to such ideas1 many persons imagine that they may obtain of the king of heaven1 as of kings of the earth1 permission to be unjust and wicked1 or may at least obtain pardon for the evil they may commit4 ,morality is founded upon the relations1 wants1 and constant interests of mankind2 the relations1 which subsist between ,god and ,men1 are either perfectly unknown1 or imaginary4 ,religion1 by associating ,god with ,man1 has wisely weakened1 or destroyed1 the bonds1 which unite them4 ,mortals imagine1 they may injure one another with impunity1 by making suitable satisfaction to the almighty being1 who is supposed to have the right of remitting all offences committed against his creatures4 ,is any thing better calculated to encourage the wicked or harden them in crimes1 than to persuade them that there exists an invisible being1 who has a right to forgive acts of injustice1 rapine1 and outrage committed against society8 ,by these destructive ideas1 perverse men perpetrate the most horrid crimes1 and believe they make reparation by imploring divine mercy2 their conscience is at rest1 when a priest assures them that heaven is disarmed by a repentance1 which1 though sincere1 is very useless to the world4 ,in the mind of a devout man1 ,god must be regarded more than his creatures2 it is better to obey him1 than men4 ,the interests of the celestial monarch must prevail over those of weak mortals4 ,but the interests of heaven are obviously those of its ministers2 whence it evidently follows1 that in every religion1 priests1 under pretext of the interests of heaven or the glory of ,god1 can dispense with the duties of human ,morality1 when they clash with the duties1 which ,god has a right to impose4 ,besides1 must not he1 who has power to pardon crimes1 have a right to encourage the commission of crimes8 #aga4 ,we are perpetually told1 that1 without a ,god there would be no moral obligation2 that the people and even the sovereigns require a legislator powerful enough to constrain them4 ,moral constraint supposes a law2 but this law arises from the eternal and necessary relations of things with one another2 relations1 which have nothing common with the existence of a ,god4 ,the rules of ,man's conduct are derived from his own nature which he is capable of knowing1 and not from the ,divine nature of which he has no idea4 ,these rules constrain or oblige us2 that is1 we render ourselves estimable or contemptible1 amiable or detestable1 worthy of reward or of punishment1 happy or unhappy1 accordingly as we conform to1 or deviate from these rules4 ,the law1 which obliges man not to hurt himself1 is founded upon the nature of a sensible being1 who1 in whatever way he came into this world1 is forced by his actual essence to seek good and shun evil1 to love pleasure and fear pain4 ,the law1 which obliges man not to injure1 and even to do good to others1 is founded upon the nature of sensible beings1 living in society1 whose essence compels them to despise those who are useless1 and to detest those who oppose their felicity4 ,whether there exists a ,god or not1 whether this ,god has spoken or not1 the moral duties of men will be always the same1 so long as they are sensible beings4 ,have men then need of a ,god whom they know not1 of an invisible legislator1 of a mysterious religion and of chimerical fears1 in order to learn that every excess evidently tends to destroy them1 that to preserve health they must be temperate2 that to gain the love of others it is necessary to do them good1 that to do them evil is a sure means to incur their vengeance and hatred8 ,before the law there was no sin4 ,nothing is more false than this maxim4 ,it suffices that man is what he is1 or that he is a sensible being1 in order to distinguish what gives him pleasure or displeasure4 ,it suffices that one man knows that another man is a sensible being like himself1 to perceive what is useful or hurtful to him4 ,it suffices that man needs his fellow-creature1 in order to know that he must fear to excite sentiments unfavourable to himself4 ,thus the feeling and thinking being has only to feel and think1 in order to discover what he must do for himself and others4 ,i feel1 and another feels like me2 this is the foundation of all morals4 #agb4 ,we can judge of the goodness of a system of ,morals1 only by its conformity to the nature of man4 ,by this comparison1 we have a right to reject it1 if contrary to the welfare of our species4 ,whoever has seriously meditated ,religion2 whoever has carefully weighed its advantages and disadvantages1 will be fully convinced1 that both are injurious to the interests of ,man1 or directly opposite to his nature4 ,to arms6 the cause of your ,god is at stake6 ,heaven is outraged6 ,the faith is in danger6 ,impiety6 blasphemy6 heresy6 ,the magical power of these formidable words1 the real value of which the people never understand1 have at all times enabled priests to excite revolts1 to dethrone kings1 to kindle civil wars1 and to lay waste4 ,if we examine the important objects1 which have produced so many ravages upon earth1 it appears1 that either the foolish reveries and whimsical conjectures of some theologian who did not understand himself1 or else the pretensions of the clergy1 have broken every social bond and deluged mankind with blood and tears4 #agc4 ,the sovereigns of this world1 by associating the ,divinity in the government of their dominions1 by proclaiming themselves his vicegerents and representatives upon earth1 and by acknowledging they hold their power from him1 have necessarily constituted his ministers their own rivals or masters4 ,is it then astonishing1 that priests have often made kings feel the superiority of the ,celestial ,monarch8 ,have they not more than once convinced temporal princes1 that even the greatest power is compelled to yield to the spiritual power of opinion8 ,nothing is more difficult than to serve two masters1 especially when they are not agreed upon what they require4 ,the association of ,religion with ,politics necessarily introduced double legislation4 ,the law of ,god1 interpreted by his priests1 was often repugnant to the law of the sovereign1 or the interest of the state4 ,when princes have firmness and are confident of the love of their subjects1 the law of ,god is sometimes forced to yield to the wise intentions of the temporal sovereign2 but generally the sovereign authority is obliged to give way to the divine authority1 that is1 to the interests of the clergy4 ,nothing is more dangerous to a prince1 than to encroach upon the authority of the ,church1 that is1 to attempt to reform abuses consecrated by religion4 ,god is never more angry than when we touch the divine rights1 privileges1 possessions1 or immunities of his priests4 ,the metaphysical speculations or religious opinions of men influence their conduct1 only when they judge them conformable to their interest4 ,nothing proves this truth more clearly1 than the conduct of many princes with respect to the spiritual power1 which they often resist4 ,ought not a sovereign1 persuaded of the importance and rights of ,religion1 to believe himself in conscience bound to receive respectfully the orders of its priests1 and to regard them as the orders of the ,divinity8 ,there was a time1 when kings and people1 more consistent in their conduct1 were convinced of the rights of spiritual power1 and becoming its slaves1 yielded to it upon every occasion1 and were but docile instruments in its hands4 ,that happy time is passed4 ,by a strange inconsistency the most devout monarchs are sometimes seen to oppose the enterprises of those1 whom they yet regard as the ministers of ,god4 ,a sovereign1 deeply religious1 ought to remain prostrate at the feet of his ministers1 and regard them as true sovereigns4 ,is there upon earth a power which has a right to put itself in competition with that of the ,most ,high8 #agd4 ,have princes then1 who imagine themselves interested in cherishing the prejudices of their subjects1 seriously reflected upon the effects1 which have been1 and may be again produced by certain privileged demagogues1 who have a right to speak at pleasure1 and in the name of heaven to inflame the passions of millions of subjects8 ,what ravages would not these sacred haranguers cause1 if they should conspire1 as they have so often done1 to disturb the tranquillity of a state6 ,to most nations1 nothing is more burthensome and ruinous than the worship of their gods4 ,not only do the ministers of these gods every where constitute the first order in the state1 but they also enjoy the largest portion of the goods of society1 and have a right to levy permanent taxes upon their fellow-citizens4 ,what real advantages then do these organs of the ,most ,high procure the people1 for the immense profits extorted from their industry8 ,in exchange for their riches and benefits1 what do they give them but mysteries1 hypotheses1 ceremonies1 subtle questions1 and endless quarrels1 which states are again compelled to pay with blood8 #age4 ,religion1 though said to be the firmest prop of ,morality1 evidently destroys its true springs1 in order to substitute imaginary ones1 inconceivable chimeras1 which1 being obviously contrary to reason1 nobody firmly believes4 ,all nations declare that they firmly believe in a ,god1 who rewards and punishes2 all say they are persuaded of the existence of hell and paradise2 yet1 do these ideas render men better or counteract the most trifling interests8 ,every one assures us1 that he trembles at the judgments of ,god2 yet every one follows his passions1 when he thinks himself sure of escaping the judgments of ,man4 ,the fear of invisible powers is seldom so strong as the fear of visible ones4 ,unknown or remote punishments strike the multitude far less forcibly than the sight of the gallows4 ,few courtiers fear the anger of their ,god so much as the displeasure of their master4 ,a pension1 a title1 or a riband suffices to efface the remembrance both of the torments of hell1 and of the pleasures of the celestial court4 ,the caresses of a woman repeatedly prevail over the menaces of the ,most ,high4 ,a jest1 a stroke of ridicule1 a witticism1 make more impression upon the man of the world1 than all the grave notions of his ,religion4 ,are we not assured that a true repentance is enough to appease the ,deity8 ,yet we do not see that this true repentance is very sincere2 at least1 it is rare to see noted thieves1 even at the point of death1 restore goods1 which they have unjustly acquired4 ,men are undoubtedly persuaded1 that they shall fit themselves for eternal fire1 if they cannot insure themselves against it4 ,but1 ,some useful compacts may be made with heaven4 ,by giving the church a part of his fortune1 almost every devout rogue may die in peace1 without concerning himself in what he gained his riches4 #agf4 ,by the confession of the warmest defenders of ,religion and of its utility1 nothing is more rare than sincere conversions1 and1 we might add1 nothing more unprofitable to society4 ,men are not disgusted with the world1 until the world is disgusted with them4 ,if the devout have the talent of pleasing ,god and his priests1 they have seldom that of being agreeable or useful to society4 ,to a devotee1 ,religion is a veil1 which covers all passions2 pride1 ill-humour1 anger1 revenge1 impatience1 and rancour4 ,devotion arrogates a tyrannical superiority1 which banishes gentleness1 indulgence1 and gaiety2 it authorizes people to censure their neighbours1 to reprove and revile the profane for the greater glory of ,god4 ,it is very common to be devout1 and at the same time destitute of every virtue and quality necessary to social life4 #agg4 ,it is asserted1 that the dogma of another life is of the utmost importance to peace and happiness2 that without it1 men would be destitute of motives to do good4 ,what need is there of terrors and fables to make man sensible how he ought to conduct himself8 ,does not every one see1 that he has the greatest interest1 in meriting the approbation1 esteem1 and benevolence of the beings who surround him1 and in abstaining from every thing1 by which he may incur the censure1 contempt1 and resentment of society8 ,however short an entertainment1 a conversation1 or visit1 does not each desire to act his part decently1 and agreeably to himself and others8 ,if life is but a passage1 let us strive to make it easy2 which we cannot effect1 if we fail in regard for those who travel with us4 ,religion1 occupied with its gloomy reveries1 considers man merely as a pilgrim upon earth2 and therefore supposes that1 in order to travel the more securely1 he must forsake company1 and deprive himself of pleasure and amusements1 which might console him for the tediousness and fatigue of the journey4 ,a stoical and morose philosopher sometimes gives us advice as irrational as that of ,religion4 ,but a more rational philosophy invites us to spread flowers upon the way of life1 to dispel melancholy and banish terrors1 to connect our interest with that of our fellow-travellers1 and by gaiety and lawful pleasures1 to divert our attention from difficulties and accidents1 to which we are often exposed2 it teaches us1 that1 to travel agreeably1 we should abstain from what might be injurious to ourselves1 and carefully shun what might render us odious to our associates4 #agh4 ,it is asked1 what motives an ,atheist can have to do good8 ,the motive to please himself and his fellow-creatures2 to live happily and peaceably2 to gain the affection and esteem of men4 ,can he1 who fears not the gods1 fear any thing8 ,he can fear men2 he can fear contempt1 dishonour1 the punishment of the laws2 in short1 he can fear himself1 and the remorse felt by all those who are conscious of having incurred or merited the hatred of their fellow-creatures4 ,conscience is the internal testimony1 which we bear to ourselves1 of having acted so as to merit the esteem or blame of the beings1 with whom we live2 and it is founded upon the clear knowledge we have of men1 and of the sentiments which our actions must produce in them4 ,the ,conscience of the religious man consists in imagining that he has pleased or displeased his ,god1 of whom he has no idea1 and whose obscure and doubtful intentions are explained to him only by men of doubtful veracity1 who1 like him1 are utterly unacquainted with the essence of the ,deity1 and are little agreed upon what can please or displease him4 ,in a word1 the conscience of the credulous is directed by men1 who have themselves an erroneous conscience1 or whose interest stifles knowledge4 ,can an ,atheist have a ,conscience8 ,what are his motives to abstain from hidden vices and secret crimes of which other men are ignorant1 and which are beyond the reach of laws8 ,he may be assured by constant experience1 that there is no vice1 which1 by the nature of things1 does not punish itself4 ,would he preserve this life8 he will avoid every excess1 that may impair his health2 he will not wish to lead a languishing life1 which would render him a burden to himself and others4 ,as for secret crimes1 he will abstain from them1 for fear he shall be forced to blush at himself1 from whom he cannot flee4 ,if he has any reason1 he will know the value of the esteem which an honest man ought to have for himself4 ,he will see1 that unforeseen circumstances may unveil the conduct1 which he feels interested in concealing from others4 ,the other world furnishes no motives for doing good1 to him1 who finds none on earth4 #agi4 ,the speculative ,atheist1 says the ,theist1 may be an honest man1 but his writings will make political ,atheists4 ,princes and ministers1 no longer restrained by the fear of ,god1 will abandon themselves1 without scruple1 to the most horrid excesses4 ,but1 however great the depravity of an ,atheist upon the throne1 can it be stronger and more destructive1 than that of the many conquerors1 tyrants1 persecutors1 ambitious men1 and perverse courtiers1 who1 though not ,atheists1 but often very religious and devout1 have notwithstanding made humanity groan under the weight of their crimes8 ,can an atheistical prince do more harm to the world1 than a ,louis ,,xi41 a ,philip ,,ii41 a ,richelieu1 who all united ,religion with crime8 ,nothing is more rare1 than atheistical princes2 nothing more common1 than tyrants and ministers1 who are very wicked and very religious4 #ahj4 ,a man of reflection cannot be incapable of his duties1 of discovering the relations subsisting between men1 of meditating his own nature1 of discerning his own wants1 propensities1 and desires1 and of perceiving what he owes to beings1 who are necessary to his happiness4 ,these reflections naturally lead him to a knowledge of the ,morality most essential to social beings4 ,dangerous passions seldom fall to the lot of a man who loves to commune with himself1 to study1 and to investigate the principles of things4 ,the strongest passion of such a man will be to know truth1 and his ambition to teach it to others4 ,philosophy cultivates the mind4 ,on the score of morals and honesty1 has not he who reflects and reasons1 evidently an advantage over him1 who makes it a principle never to reason8 ,if ignorance is useful to priests1 and to the oppressors of mankind1 it is fatal to society4 ,man1 void of knowledge1 does not enjoy reason2 without reason and knowledge1 he is a savage1 liable to commit crimes4 ,morality1 or the science of duties1 is acquired only by the study of ,man1 and of what is relative to ,man4 ,he1 who does not reflect1 is unacquainted with true ,morality1 and walks with precarious steps1 in the path of virtue4 ,the less men reason1 the more wicked they are4 ,savages1 princes1 nobles1 and the dregs of the people1 are commonly the worst of men1 because they reason the least4 ,the devout man seldom reflects1 and rarely reasons4 ,he fears all enquiry1 scrupulously follows authority1 and often1 through an error of conscience1 makes it a sacred duty to commit evil4 ,the ,atheist reasons3 he consults experience1 which he prefers to prejudice4 ,if he reasons justly1 his conscience is enlightened2 he finds more real motives to do good than the bigot whose only motives are his fallacies1 and who never listens to reason4 ,are not the motives of the ,atheist sufficiently powerful to counteract his passions8 ,is he blind enough to be unmindful of his true interest1 which ought to restrain him8 ,but he will be neither worse nor better1 than the numerous believers1 who1 notwithstanding ,religion and its sublime precepts1 follow a conduct which ,religion condemns4 ,is a credulous assassin less to be feared1 than an assassin who believes nothing8 ,is a very devout tyrant less tyrannical than an undevout tyrant8 #aha4 ,nothing is more uncommon1 than to see men consistent4 ,their opinions never influence their conduct except when conformable to their temperaments1 passions1 and interests4 ,daily experience shows1 that religious opinions produce much evil and little good4 ,they are hurtful1 because they often favour the passions of tyrants1 of ambitious men1 of fanatics1 and of priests2 they are of no effect1 because incapable of counter-balancing the present interests of the greater part of mankind4 ,religious principles are of no avail1 when they act in opposition to ardent desires2 though not unbelievers1 men then conduct themselves as if they believed nothing4 ,we shall always be liable to err1 when we judge of the opinions of men by their conduct1 or of their conduct by their opinions4 ,a religious man1 notwithstanding the unsociable principles of a sanguinary religion1 will sometimes by a happy inconsistency1 be humane1 tolerant1 and moderate2 the principles of his religion do not then agree with the gentleness of his character4 ,libertines1 debauchees1 hypocrites1 adulterers1 and rogues1 often appear to have the best ideas upon morals4 ,why do they not reduce them to practice8 ,because their temperament1 their interest1 and their habits do not accord with their sublime theories4 ,the rigid principles of ,christian morality1 which many people regard as divine1 have but little influence upon the conduct of those1 who preach them to others4 ,do they not daily tell us1 to do what they preach1 and not what they practise8 ,the partisans of ,religion often denote an infidel by the word libertine4 ,it is possible that many unbelievers may have loose morals1 which is owing to their temperament1 and not to their opinions4 ,but how does their conduct affect their opinions8 ,cannot then an immoral man be a good physician1 architect1 geometrician1 logician1 or metaphysician8 ,a man of irreproachable conduct may be extremely deficient in knowledge and reason4 ,in quest of truth1 it little concerns us from whom it comes4 ,let us not judge men by their opinions1 nor opinions by men2 let us judge men by their conduct1 and their opinions by their conformity with experience and reason and by their utility to mankind4 #ahb4 ,every man1 who reasons1 soon becomes an unbeliever2 for reason shows1 that theology is nothing but a tissue of chimeras2 that religion is contrary to every principle of good sense1 that it tinctures all human knowledge with falsity4 ,the sensible man is an unbeliever1 because he sees1 that1 far from making men happier1 religion is the chief source of the greatest disorders1 and the permanent calamities1 with which man is afflicted4 ,the man1 who seeks his own welfare and tranquillity1 examines and throws aside religion1 because he thinks it no less troublesome than useless1 to spend his life in trembling before phantoms1 fit to impose only upon silly women or children4 ,if licentiousness1 which reasons but little1 sometimes leads to irreligion1 the man of pure morals may have very good motives for examining his religion1 and banishing it from his mind4 ,religious terrors1 too weak to impose upon the wicked in whom vice is deeply rooted1 afflict1 torment and overwhelm restless imaginations4 ,courageous and vigorous minds soon shake off the insupportable yoke4 ,but those1 who are weak and timorous1 languish under it during life2 and as they grow old their fears increase4 ,priests have represented ,god as so malicious1 austere1 and terrible a being1 that most men would cordially wish1 that there was no ,god4 ,it is impossible to be happy1 while always trembling4 ,ye devout6 you adore a terrible ,god6 ,but you hate him2 you would be glad1 if he did not exist4 ,can we refrain from desiring the absence or destruction of a master1 the idea of whom destroys our happiness8 ,the black colours1 in which priests paint the ,divinity1 are truly shocking1 and force us to hate and reject him4 #ahc4 ,if fear created the gods1 fear supports their empire over the minds of mortals4 ,so early are men accustomed to shudder at the mere name of the ,deity1 that they regard him as a spectre1 a hobgoblin1 a bugbear1 which torments and deprives them of courage even to wish relief from their fears4 ,they apprehend1 that the invisible spectre1 will strike them the moment they cease to be afraid4 ,bigots are too much in fear of their ,god to love him sincerely4 ,they serve him like slaves1 who1 unable to escape his power1 resolve to flatter their master1 and who1 by dint of lying1 at length persuade themselves1 that they in some measure love him4 ,they make a virtue of necessity4 ,the love of devotees for their ,god1 and of slaves for their despots1 is only a feigned homage4 #ahd4 ,christian divines have represented their ,god so terrible and so little worthy of love1 that several of them have thought they must dispense with loving him2 a blasphemy1 shocking to other divines1 who were less ingenuous4 ,st4 ,thomas having maintained1 that we are obliged to love ,god as soon as we attain the use of reason1 the ,jesuit ,sirmond answered him1 that is very soon4 ,the ,jesuit ,vasquez assures us1 that it is enough to love ,god at the point of death4 ,hurtado1 more rigid1 says1 we must love ,god very year4 ,henriquez is contented that we love him every five years2 ,sotus1 every ,sunday4 ,upon what are these opinions grounded8 asks father ,sirmond2 who adds1 that ,suarez requires us to love ,god sometimes4 ,but when8 ,he leaves that to us2 he knows nothing about it himself4 ,now1 says he1 who will be able to know that1 of which such a learned divine is ignorant8 ,the same ,jesuit ,sirmond further observes1 that ,god does not command us to love him with an affectionate love1 nor does he promise us salvation upon condition that we give him our hearts2 it is enough to obey and love him with an effective love by executing his orders2 this is the only love we owe him2 and he has not so much commanded us to love him1 as not to hate him4 ,this doctrine appears heretical1 impious1 and abominable to the ,jansenists1 who1 by the revolting severity they attribute to their ,god1 make him far less amiable1 than the ,jesuits1 their adversaries4 ,the latter1 to gain adherents1 paint ,god in colours capable of encouraging the most perverse of mortals4 ,thus nothing is more undecided with the ,christians1 than the important question1 whether they can1 ought1 or ought not to love ,god4 ,some of their spiritual guides maintain1 that it is necessary to love him with all one's heart1 notwithstanding all his severity2 others1 like father ,daniel1 think that1 an act of pure love to ,god is the most heroic act of ,christian virtue1 and almost beyond the reach of human weakness4 ,the ,jesuit ,pintereau goes farther2 he says1 a deliverance from the grievous yoke of loving ,god is a privilege of the new covenant4 #ahe4 ,the character of the ,man always decides that of his ,god2 every body makes one for himself and like himself4 ,the man of gaiety1 involved in dissipation and pleasure1 does not imagine1 that1 ,god can be stern and cross2 he wants a good-natured ,god1 with whom he can find reconciliation4 ,the man of a rigid1 morose1 bilious1 sour disposition1 must have a ,god like himself1 a ,god of terror2 and he regards1 as perverse1 those1 who admit a placable1 indulgent ,god4 ,as men are constituted1 organized1 and modified in a manner1 which cannot be precisely the same1 how can they agree about a chimera1 which exists only in their brains8 ,the cruel and endless disputes between the ministers of the ,lord1 are not such as to attract the confidence of those1 who impartially consider them4 ,how can we avoid complete infidelity1 upon viewing principles1 about which those who teach them to others are never agreed8 ,how can we help doubting the existence of a ,god1 of whom it is evident that even his ministers can only form very fluctuating ideas8 ,how can we in short avoid totally rejecting a ,god1 who is nothing but a shapeless heap of contradictions8 ,how can we refer the matter to the decision of priests1 who are perpetually at war1 treating each other as impious and heretical1 defaming and persecuting each other without mercy1 for differing in the manner of understanding what they announce to the world8 #ahf4 ,the existence of a ,god is the basis of all ,religion4 ,nevertheless1 this important truth has not as yet been demonstrated1 ,i do not say so as to convince unbelievers1 but in a manner satisfactory to theologians themselves4 ,profound thinkers have at all times been occupied in inventing new proofs4 ,what are the fruits of their meditations and arguments8 ,they have left the subject in a worse condition2 they have demonstrated nothing2 they have almost always excited the clamours of their brethren1 who have accused them of having poorly defended the best of causes4 #ahg4 ,the apologists of religion daily repeat1 that the passions alone make unbelievers4 ,pride1 say they1 and the desire of signalizing themselves1 make men ,atheists4 ,they endeavour to efface from their minds the idea of ,god1 only because they have reason to fear his terrible judgments4 ,whatever may be the motives1 which incline men to ,atheism1 it is our business to examine1 whether their sentiments are founded in truth4 ,no man acts without motives4 ,let us first examine the arguments and afterwards the motives4 ,we shall see whether these motives are not legitimate1 and more rational than those of many credulous bigots1 who suffer themselves to be guided by masters little worthy of the confidence of men4 ,you say then1 ,priests of the ,lord6 that the passions make unbelievers2 that they renounce ,religion only through interest1 or because it contradicts their inordinate propensities2 you assert1 that they attack your gods only because they fear their severity4 ,but1 are you yourselves1 in defending ,religion and its chimeras1 truly exempt from passions and interests8 ,who reap advantages from this ,religion1 for which priests display so much zeal8 ,priests4 ,to whom does ,religion procure power1 influence1 riches1 and honours8 ,to ,priests4 ,who wage war1 in every country1 against reason1 science1 truth1 and philosophy1 and render them odious to sovereigns and people8 ,priests4 ,who profit by the ignorance and vain prejudices of men8 ,priests4--,priests6 you are rewarded1 honoured and paid for deceiving mortals1 and you cause those to be punished who undeceive them4 ,the follies of men procure you benefices1 offerings1 and expiations2 while those1 who announce the most useful truths1 are rewarded only with chains1 gibbets and funeral-piles4 ,let the world judge between us4 #ahh4 ,pride and vanity have been1 and ever will be1 inherent in the priesthood4 ,is any thing more capable of rendering men haughty and vain1 than the pretence of exercising a power derived from heaven1 of bearing a sacred character1 of being the messengers and ministers of the ,most ,high8 ,are not these dispositions perpetually nourished by the credulity of the people1 the deference and respect of sovereigns1 the immunities1 privileges1 and distinctions enjoyed by the clergy8 ,in every country1 the vulgar are much more devoted to their spiritual guides1 whom they regard as divine1 than to their temporal superiors1 whom they consider as no more than ordinary men4 ,the parson of a village acts a much more conspicuous part1 than the lord of the manor or the justice of the peace4 ,among the ,christians1 a priest thinks himself far above a king or an emperor4 ,a ,spanish grandee having spoken rather haughtily to a monk1 the latter arrogantly said1 ,learn to respect a man1 who daily has your ,god in his hands1 and your ,queen at his feet4 ,have priests then a right to accuse unbelievers of pride8 ,are they themselves remarkable for uncommon modesty or profound humility8 ,is it not evident1 that the desire of domineering over men is essential to their trade8 ,if the ministers of the ,lord were truly modest1 should we see them so greedy of respect1 so impatient of contradiction1 so positive in their decisions1 and so unmercifully revengeful to those whose opinions offend them8 ,has not ,science the modesty to acknowledge how difficult it is to discover truth8 ,what other passion but ungovernable pride can make men so savage1 revengeful1 and void of indulgence and gentleness8 ,what can be more presumptuous1 than to arm nations and deluge the world in blood1 in order to establish or defend futile conjectures8 ,you say1 that presumption alone makes ,atheists4 ,inform them then what your ,god is2 teach them his essence2 speak of him intelligibly2 say something about him1 which is reasonable1 and not contradictory or impossible4 ,if you are unable to satisfy them1 if hitherto none of you have been able to demonstrate the existence of a ,god in a clear and convincing manner2 if by your own confession1 his essence is completely veiled from you1 as from the rest of mortals1 forgive those1 who cannot admit what they can neither understand nor make consistent with itself2 do not tax with presumption and vanity those who are sincere enough to confess their ignorance2 do not accuse of folly those who find themselves incapable of believing contradictions2 and for once1 blush at exciting the hatred and fury of sovereigns and people against men1 who think not like you concerning a being1 of whom you have no idea4 ,is any thing more rash and extravagant1 than to reason concerning an object1 known to be inconceivable8 ,you say1 that the corruption of the heart produces ,atheism1 that men shake off the yoke of the ,deity only because they fear his formidable judgments4 ,but1 why do you paint your ,god in colours so shocking1 that he becomes insupportable8 ,why does so powerful a ,god permit men to be so corrupt8 ,how can we help endeavouring to shake off the yoke of a tyrant1 who1 able to do as he pleases with men1 consents to their perversion1 who hardens1 and blinds them1 and refuses them his grace1 that he may have the satisfaction to punish them eternally1 for having been hardened1 and blinded1 and for not having the grace which he refused8 ,theologians and priests must be very confident of the grace of heaven and a happy futurity1 to refrain from detesting a master so capricious as the ,god they announce4 ,a ,god1 who damns eternally1 is the most odious of beings that the human mind can invent4 #ahi4 ,no man upon earth is truly interested in the support of error1 which is forced sooner or later to yield to truth4 ,the general good must at length open the eyes of mortals3 the passions themselves sometimes contribute to break the chains of prejudices4 ,did not the passions of sovereigns1 centuries ago1 annihilate in some countries of ,europe the tyrannical power1 which a too haughty pontiff once exercised over all princes of his sect8 ,in consequence of the progress of political science1 the clergy were then stripped of immense riches1 which credulity had accumulated upon them4 ,ought not this memorable example to convince priests1 that prejudices triumph but for a time1 and that truth alone can insure solid happiness8 ,by caressing sovereigns1 by fabricating divine rights for them1 by deifying them1 and by abandoning the people1 bound hand and foot1 to their will1 the ministers of the ,most ,high must see1 that they are labouring to make them tyrants4 ,have they not reason to apprehend1 that the gigantic idols1 which they raised to the clouds1 will one day crush them by their enormous weight8 ,do not a thousand examples remind them that these tyrants1 after preying upon the people1 may prey upon them in their turn4 ,we will respect priests1 when they become sensible men4 ,let them1 if they please1 use the authority of heaven to frighten those princes who are continually desolating the earth2 but let them no more adjudge to them the horrid right of being unjust with impunity4 ,let them acknowledge1 that no man is interested in living under tyranny2 and let them teach sovereigns1 that they themselves are not interested in exercising a despotism1 which1 by rendering them odious1 exposes them to danger1 and detracts from their power and greatness4 ,finally1 let priests and kings become so far enlightened as to acknowledge1 that no power is secure which is not founded upon truth1 reason1 and equity4 #aij4 ,by waging war against ,reason1 which they ought to have protected and developed1 the ministers of the gods evidently act against their own interest4 ,what power1 influence1 and respect might they not have gained among the wisest of men1 what gratitude would they not have excited in the people1 if1 instead of wasting their time about their vain disputes1 they had applied themselves to really useful science1 and investigated the true principles of philosophy1 government1 and morals6 ,who would dare to reproach a body with its opulence or influence1 if the members dedicating themselves to the public good1 employed their leisure in study1 and exercised their authority in enlightening the minds both of sovereigns and subjects8 ,priests6 ,forsake your chimeras1 your unintelligible dogmas1 your contemptible quarrels6 ,banish those phantoms which could be useful only in the infancy of nations4 ,assume1 at length1 the language of reason4 ,instead of exciting persecution2 instead of entertaining the people with silly disputes2 instead of preaching useless and fanatical dogmas1 preach human and social morality2 preach virtues really useful to the world2 become the apostles of reason1 the defenders of liberty1 and the reformers of abuses4 #aia4 ,philosophers have every where taken upon themselves a part1 which seemed destined to the ministers of ,religion4 ,the hatred of the latter for philosophy was only a jealousy of trade4 ,but1 instead of endeavouring to injure and decry each other1 all men of good sense should unite their efforts to combat error1 seek truth1 and especially to put to flight the prejudices1 that are equally injurious to sovereigns and subjects1 and of which the abettors themselves sooner or later become the victims4 ,in the hands of an enlightened government1 the priests would become the most useful of the citizens4 ,already richly paid by the state1 and free from the care of providing for their own subsistence1 how could they be better employed than in qualifying themselves for the instruction of others8 ,would not their minds be better satisfied with discovering luminous truths1 than in wandering through the thick darkness of error8 ,would it be more difficult to discern the clear principles of ,morality1 than the imaginary principles of a divine and theological ,morality8 ,would men of ordinary capacities find it as difficult to fix in their heads the simple notions of their duties1 as to load their memories with mysteries1 unintelligible words and obscure definitions1 of which they can never form a clear idea8 ,what time and pains are lost in learning and teaching things1 which are not of the least real utility6 ,what resources for the encouragement of the sciences1 the advancement of knowledge1 and the education of youth1 well disposed sovereigns might find in the many monasteries1 which in several countries live upon the people without in the slightest degree profiting them6 ,but superstition1 jealous of its exclusive empire1 seems resolved to form only useless beings4 ,to what advantage might we not turn a multitude of cenobites of both sexes1 who1 in many countries1 are amply endowed for doing nothing8 ,instead of overwhelming them with fasting and austerities2 instead of barren contemplations1 mechanical prayers1 and trifling ceremonies2 why should we not excite in them a salutary emulation1 which may incline them to seek the means1 not of being dead to the world1 but of being useful to it8 ,instead of filling the youthful minds of their pupils with fables1 sterile dogmas1 and puerilities1 why are not priests obliged1 or invited to teach them truths1 and to render them useful citizens of their country8 ,under the present system1 men are only useful to the clergy who blind them1 and to the tyrants who fleece them4 #aib4 ,the partisans of credulity often accuse unbelievers of insincerity1 because they sometimes waver in their principles1 alter their minds in sickness1 and retract at death4 ,when the body is disordered1 the faculty of reasoning is commonly disordered with it4 ,at the approach of death1 man1 weak and decayed1 is sometimes himself sensible that ,reason abandons him1 and that ,prejudice returns4 ,there are some diseases1 which tend to weaken the brain2 to create despondency and pusillanimity2 and there are others1 which destroy the body1 but do not disturb the reason4 ,at any rate1 an unbeliever who recants in sickness is not more extraordinary1 than a devotee who neglects in health the duties which his religion explicitly enjoins4 ,ministers of ,religion openly contradict in their daily conduct the rigorous principles1 they teach to others2 in consequence of which1 unbelievers1 in their turn1 may justly accuse them of insincerity4 ,is it easy to find many prelates humble1 generous1 void of ambition1 enemies of pomp and grandeur1 and friends of poverty8 ,in short1 is the conduct of ,christian ministers conformable to the austere morality of ,christ1 their ,god1 and their model8 #aic4 ,atheism1 it is said1 breaks all the ties of society4 ,without the belief of a ,god1 what will become of the sacredness of oaths8 ,how shall we oblige a man to speak the truth1 who cannot seriously call the ,deity to witness what he says8 ,but1 does an oath strengthen our obligation to fulfil the engagements contracted8 ,will he1 who is not fearful of lying1 be less fearful of perjury8 ,he1 who is base enough to break his word1 or unjust enough to violate his engagements1 in contempt of the esteem of men1 will not be more faithful therein for having called all the gods to witness his oaths4 ,those1 who disregard the judgments of men1 will soon disregard the judgments of ,god4 ,are not princes1 of all men1 the most ready to swear1 and the most ready to violate their oaths8 #aid4 ,the vulgar1 it is repeatedly said1 must have a ,religion4 ,if enlightened persons have no need of the restraint of opinion1 it is at least necessary to rude men1 whose reason is uncultivated by education4 ,but1 is it indeed a fact1 that religion is a restraint upon the vulgar8 ,do we see1 that this religion preserves them from intemperance1 drunkenness1 brutality1 violence1 fraud1 and every kind of excess8 ,could a people who have no idea of the ,deity conduct themselves in a more detestable manner1 than these believing people1 among whom we find dissipation and vices1 the most unworthy of reasonable beings8 ,upon going out of the churches1 do not the working classes1 and the populace1 plunge without fear into their ordinary irregularities1 under the idea1 that the periodical homage1 which they render to their ,god1 authorizes them to follow1 without remorse1 their vicious habits and pernicious propensities8 ,finally1 if the people are so low-minded and unreasonable1 is not their stupidity chargeable to the negligence of their princes1 who are wholly regardless of public education1 or who even oppose the instruction of their subjects8 ,is not the want of reason in the people evidently the work of the priests1 who1 instead of instructing men in a rational morality1 entertain them with fables1 reveries1 ceremonies1 fallacies1 and false virtues which they think of the greatest importance8 ,to the people1 ,religion is but a vain display of ceremonies1 to which they are attached by habit1 which entertains their eyes1 and produces a transient emotion in their torpid understandings1 without influencing their conduct or reforming their morals4 ,even by the confession of the ministers of the altars1 nothing is more rare than that internal and spiritual ,religion1 which alone is capable of regulating the life of man and of triumphing over his evil propensities4 ,in the most numerous and devout nation1 are there many persons1 who are really capable of understanding the principles of their religious system1 and who find them powerful enough to stifle their perverse inclinations8 ,many persons will say1 that any restraint whatever is better than none4 ,they will maintain1 that if religion awes not the greater part1 it serves at least to restrain some individuals1 who would otherwise without remorse abandon themselves to crime4 ,men ought undoubtedly to have a restraint1 but not an imaginary one4 ,religion only frightens those whose imbecility of character has already prevented them from being formidable to their fellow-citizens4 ,an equitable government1 severe laws1 and sound morality have an equal power over all2 at least1 every person must believe in them1 and perceive the danger of not conforming to them4 #aie4 ,perhaps it will be asked1 whether ,atheism can be proper for the multitude8 ,i answer1 that any system1 which requires discussion1 is not made for the multitude4 ,what purpose then can it serve to preach ,atheism8 ,it may at least serve to convince all those who reason1 that nothing is more extravagant than to fret one's self1 and nothing more unjust than to vex others1 for mere groundless conjectures4 ,as for the vulgar who never reason1 the arguments of an ,atheist are no more fit for them than the systems of a natural philosopher1 the observations of an astronomer1 the experiments of a chemist1 the calculations of a geometrician1 the researches of a physician1 the plans of an architect1 or the pleadings of a lawyer1 who all labour for the people without their knowledge4 ,are the metaphysical reasonings and religious disputes1 which have so long engrossed the time and attention of so many profound thinkers1 better adapted to the generality of men than the reasoning of an ,atheist8 ,nay1 as the principles of ,atheism are founded upon plain common sense1 are they not more intelligible1 than those of a theology1 beset with difficulties1 which even the persons of the greatest genius cannot explain8 ,in every country1 the people have a religion1 the principles of which they are totally ignorant1 and which they follow from habit without any examination3 their priests alone are engaged in theology1 which is too dense for vulgar heads4 ,if the people should chance to lose this unknown theology1 they mighty easily console themselves for the loss of a thing1 not only perfectly useless1 but also productive of dangerous commotions4 ,it would be madness to write for the vulgar1 or to attempt to cure their prejudices all at once4 ,we write for those only1 who read and reason2 the multitude read but little1 and reason still less4 ,calm and rational persons will require new ideas1 and knowledge will be gradually diffused4 #aif4 ,if theology is a branch of commerce profitable to theologians1 it is evidently not only superfluous1 but injurious to the rest of society4 ,self-interest will sooner or later open the eyes of men4 ,sovereigns and subjects will one day adopt the profound indifference and contempt1 merited by a futile system1 which serves only to make men miserable4 ,all persons will be sensible of the inutility of the many expensive ceremonies1 which contribute nothing to public felicity4 ,contemptible quarrels will cease to disturb the tranquility of states1 when we blush at having considered them important4 ,instead of ,parliament meddling with the senseless combats of your clergy2 instead of foolishly espousing their impertinent quarrels1 and attempting to make your subjects adopt uniform opinions--strive to make them happy in this world4 ,respect their liberty and property1 watch over their education1 encourage them in their labours1 reward their talents and virtues1 repress licentiousness2 and do not concern yourselves with their manner of thinking4 ,theological fables are useful only to tyrants and the ignorant4 #aig4 ,does it then require an extraordinary effort of genius to comprehend1 that what is above the capacity of man1 is not made for him2 that things supernatural are not made for natural beings2 that impenetrable mysteries are not made for limited minds8 ,if theologians are foolish enough to dispute upon objects1 which they acknowledge to be unintelligible even to themselves1 ought society to take any part in their silly quarrels8 ,must the blood of nations flow to enhance the conjectures of a few infatuated dreamers8 ,if it is difficult to cure theologians of their madness and the people of their prejudices1 it is at least easy to prevent the extravagancies of one party1 and the silliness of the other from producing pernicious effects4 ,let every one be permitted to think as he pleases2 but never let him be permitted to injure others for their manner of thinking4 ,were the rulers of nations more just and rational1 theological opinions would not affect the public tranquillity1 more than the disputes of natural philosophers1 physicians1 grammarians1 and critics4 ,it is tyranny which causes theological quarrels to be attended with serious consequences4 ,those1 who extol the importance and utility of ,religion1 ought to shew us its happy effects1 the advantages for instance1 which the disputes and abstract speculations of theology can be to porters1 artisans1 and labourers1 and to the multitude of unfortunate women and corrupt servants with which great cities abound4 ,all these beings are religious2 they have what is called an implicit faith4 ,their parsons believe for them2 and they stupidly adhere to the unknown belief of their guides4 ,they go to hear sermons1 and would think it a great crime to transgress any of the ordinances1 to which1 in childhood1 they are taught to conform4 ,but of what service to morals is all this8 ,none at all4 ,they have not the least idea of ,morality1 and are even guilty of all the roguery1 fraud1 rapine1 and excess1 that is out of the reach of law4 ,the populace have no idea of their ,religion2 what they call ,religion is nothing but a blind attachment to unknown opinions and mysterious practices4 ,in fact1 to deprive people of ,religion is to deprive them of nothing4 ,by overthrowing their prejudices1 we should only lessen or annihilate the dangerous confidence they put in interested guides1 and should teach them to mistrust those1 who1 under the pretext of ,religion1 often lead them into fatal excesses4 #aih4 ,while pretending to instruct and enlighten men1 ,religion in reality keeps them in ignorance1 and stifles the desire of knowing the most interesting objects4 ,the people have no other rule of conduct1 than what their priests are pleased to prescribe4 ,religion supplies the place of every thing else3 but being in itself essentially obscure1 it is more proper to lead mortals astray than to guide them in the path of science and happiness4 ,religion renders enigmatical all ,natural ,philosophy1 ,morality1 ,legislation and ,politics4 ,a man blinded by religious prejudices1 fears truth1 whenever it clashes with his opinions3 he cannot know his own nature he cannot cultivate his reason1 he cannot perform experiments4 ,everything concurs to render the people devout2 but every thing tends to prevent them from being humane1 reasonable and virtuous4 ,religion seems to have no other object1 than to stupefy the mind4 ,priests have been ever at war with genius and talent1 because well-informed men perceive1 that superstition shackles the human mind1 and would keep it in eternal infancy1 occupied solely by fables and frightened by phantoms4 ,incapable of improvement itself1 ,theology opposed insurmountable barriers to the progress of true knowledge2 its sole object is to keep nations and their rulers in the most profound ignorance of their duties1 and of the real motives1 that should incline them to do good4 ,it obscures ,morality1 renders its principles arbitrary1 and subjects it to the caprice of the gods or of their ministers4 ,it converts the art of governing men into a mysterious tyranny1 which is the scourge of nations4 ,it changes princes into unjust1 licentious despots1 and the people into ignorant slaves1 who become corrupt in order to merit the favour of their masters4 #aii4 ,by tracing the history of the human mind1 we shall be easily convinced1 that ,theology has cautiously guarded against its progress4 ,it began by giving out fables as sacred truth3 it produced poetry1 which filled the imagination of men with its puerile fictions3 it entertained them with its gods and their incredible deeds4 ,in a word1 ,religion has always treated men1 like children1 whom it lulled to sleep with tales1 which its ministers would have us still regard as incontestable truths4 ,if the ministers of the gods have sometimes made useful discoveries1 they have always been careful to give them a dogmatical tone1 and envelope them in the shades of mystery4 ,pythagoras and ,plato1 in order to acquire some trifling knowledge1 were obliged to court the favour of priests1 to be initiated in their mysteries1 and to undergo whatever trials they were pleased to impose4 ,at this price1 they were permitted to imbibe those exalted notions1 still so bewitching to all those who admire only what is perfectly unintelligible4 ,it was from ,egyptian1 ,indian1 and ,chaldean priests1 from the schools of these visionaries1 professionally interested in bewildering human reason1 that philosophy was obliged to borrow its first rudiments4 ,obscure and false in its principles1 mixed with fictions and fables1 and made only to dazzle the imagination1 the progress of this philosophy was precarious1 and its theories unintelligible2 instead of enlightening1 it blighted the mind1 and diverted it from objects truly useful4 ,the theological speculations and mystical reveries of the ancients are still law in a great part of the philosophic world2 and being adopted by modern theology1 it is heresy to abandon them4 ,they tell us of aerial beings1 of spirits1 angels1 demons1 genii1 and other phantoms1 which are the object of their meditations1 and serve as the basis of metaphysics1 an abstract and futile science1 which for thousands of years the greatest geniuses have vainly studied4 ,hypothesis1 imagined by a few visionaries of ,memphis and ,babylon1 constitute even now the foundations of a science1 whose obscurity makes it revered as marvellous and divine4 ,the first legislators were priests2 the first mythologists1 poets1 learned men1 and physicians were priests4 ,in their hands science became sacred and was withheld from the profane4 ,they spoke only in allegories1 emblems1 enigmas1 and ambiguous oracles--means well calculated to excite curiosity1 and above all to inspire the astonished vulgar with a holy respect for men1 who when they were thought to be instructed by the gods1 and capable of reading in the heavens the fate of the earth1 boldly proclaimed themselves the oracles of the ,deity4 #bjj4 ,the religions of ancient priests have only changed form4 ,although our modern theologians regard their predecessors as impostors1 yet they have collected many scattered fragments of their religious systems4 ,in modern ,religions we find1 not only their metaphysical dogmas1 which theology has merely clothed in a new dress1 but also some remarkable remains of their superstitious practices1 their magic1 and their enchantments4 ,christians are still commanded to respect the remaining monuments of the legislators1 priests1 and prophets of the ,hebrew ,religion1 which had borrowed its strange practices from ,egypt4 ,thus extravagancies1 imagined by knaves or idolatrous visionaries1 are still sacred among ,christians6 ,if we examine history1 we shall find a striking resemblance among all ,religions4 ,in all parts of the earth1 we see1 that religious notions1 periodically depress and elevate the people4 ,the attention of man is every where engrossed1 by rites often abominable1 and by mysteries always formidable1 which become the sole objects of meditation4 ,the different superstitions borrow1 from one another1 their abstract reveries and ceremonies4 ,religions are in general mere unintelligible rhapsodies1 combined by new teachers1 who use the materials of their predecessors1 reserving the right of adding or retrenching whatever is not conformable to the present age4 ,the religion of ,egypt was evidently the basis of the religion of ,moses1 who banished the worship of idols3 ,moses was merely a schismatic ,egyptian4 ,christianism is only reformed ,judaism4 ,mahometanism is composed of ,judaism1 ,christianity1 and the ancient religion of ,arabia1 etc4 #bja4 ,theology1 from the remotest antiquity to the present time1 has had the exclusive privilege of directing philosophy4 ,what assistance has been derived from its labours8 ,it changed philosophy into an unintelligible jargon1 calculated to render uncertain the clearest truths2 it has converted the art of reasoning into a jargon of words2 it has carried the human mind into the airy regions of metaphysics1 and there employed it in vainly fathoming an obscure abyss4 ,instead of physical and simple causes1 this transformed philosophy has substituted supernatural1 or rather1 occult causes2 it has explained phenomena difficult to be conceived by agents still more inconceivable4 ,it has filled language with words1 void of sense1 incapable of accounting for things1 better calculated to obscure than enlighten1 and which seems invented expressly to discourage man1 to guard him against the powers of his mind1 to make him mistrust the principles of reason and evidence1 and to raise an insurmountable barrier between him and truth4 #bjb4 ,were we to believe the partisans of ,religion1 nothing could be explained without it2 nature would be a perpetual enigma1 and man would be incapable of understanding himself4 ,but1 what does this ,religion in reality explain8 ,the more we examine it1 the more we are convinced that its theological notions are fit only to confuse our ideas2 they change every thing into mystery3 they explain difficult things by things that are impossible4 ,is it a satisfactory explanation of phenomena1 to attribute them to unknown agents1 to invisible powers1 to immaterial causes8 ,does the human mind receive much light by being referred to the depths of the treasures of divine wisdom1 to which1 we are repeatedly told1 it is vain to extend our rash enquiries8 ,can the divine nature1 of which we have no conception1 enable us to conceive the nature of man8 ,ask a ,christian1 what is the origin of the world8 ,he will answer1 that ,god created it4 ,what is ,god8 ,he cannot tell4 ,what is it to create8 ,he knows not4 ,what is the cause of pestilence1 famine1 wars1 droughts1 inundations and earthquakes8 ,the anger of ,god4 ,what remedies can be applied to these calamities8 ,prayers1 sacrifices1 processions1 offerings1 and ceremonies are1 it is said1 the true means of disarming celestial fury4 ,but why is heaven enraged8 ,because men are wicked4 ,why are men wicked8 ,because their nature is corrupt4 ,what is the cause of this corruption8 ,it is1 says the theologian1 because the first man1 beguiled by the first woman1 ate an apple1 which ,god had forbidden him to touch4 ,who beguiled this woman into such folly8 ,the devil4 ,who made the devil8 ,god4 ,but1 why did ,god make this devil1 destined to pervert mankind8 ,this is unknown2 it is a mystery which the ,deity alone is acquainted with4 ,it is now universally acknowledged1 that the earth turns round the sun4 ,centuries ago1 this opinion was blasphemy1 as being irreconcileable with the sacred books which every ,christian reveres as inspired by the ,deity himself4 ,notwithstanding divine revelation1 astronomers now depend rather upon evidence1 than upon the testimony of their inspired books4 ,what is the hidden principle of the motions of the human body8 ,the soul4 ,what is a soul8 ,a spirit4 ,what is a spirit8 ,a substance1 which has neither form1 nor colour1 nor extension1 nor parts4 ,how can we form any idea of such a substance8 ,how can it move a body8 ,that is not known2 it is a mystery4 ,have beasts souls8 ,but1 do they not act1 feel1 and think1 in a manner very similar to man8 ,mere illusion6 ,by what right do you deprive beasts of a soul1 which you attribute to man1 though you know nothing at all about it8 ,because the souls of beasts would embarrass our theologians1 who are satisfied with the power of terrifying and damning the immaterial souls of men1 and are not so much interested in damning those of beasts4 ,such are the puerile solutions1 which philosophy1 always in the leading strings of theology1 was obliged to invent1 in order to explain the problems of the physical and moral world8 #bjc4 ,how many evasions have been used1 both in ancient and modern times1 in order to avoid an engagement with the ministers of the gods1 who have ever been the tyrants of thought8 ,how many hypotheses and shifts were such men as ,descartes1 ,mallebranche1 and ,leibnitz1 forced to invent1 in order to reconcile their discoveries with the fables and mistakes which ,religion had consecrated6 ,in what guarded phrases have the greatest philosophers expressed themselves1 even at the risk of being absurd1 inconsistent1 or unintelligible1 whenever their ideas did not accord with the principles of theology6 ,priests have been always attentive to extinguish systems which opposed their interest4 ,theology was ever the bed of ,procrustes1 to be adapted to which1 the limbs of travellers1 if too long were cut off1 and if too short were lengthened4 ,can any sensible man1 delighted with the sciences and attached to the welfare of his fellow-creatures1 reflect1 without vexation and anguish1 how many profound1 laborious1 and subtle brains have been for ages foolishly occupied in the study of absurdities8 ,what a treasure of knowledge might have been diffused by many celebrated thinkers1 if instead of engaging in the impertinent disputes of vain theology1 they had devoted their attention to intelligible objects really important to mankind8 ,half the efforts which religious opinions have cost genius1 and half the wealth which frivolous forms of worship have cost nations would have sufficed to instruct them perfectly in morality1 politics1 natural philosophy1 medicine1 agriculture1 etc4 ,superstition generally absorbs the attention1 admiration1 and treasures of the people2 their ,religion costs them very dear2 but they have neither knowledge1 virtue1 nor happiness1 for their money4 #bjd4 ,some ancient and modern philosophers have been bold enough to assume experience and reason for their guides1 and to shake off the chains of superstition4 ,democritus1 ,epicurus1 and other ,greeks presumed to tear away the veil of prejudice1 and to deliver philosophy from theological shackles4 ,but their systems1 too simple1 too sensible1 and too free from the marvellous1 for imaginations enamoured with chimeras1 were obliged to yield to the fabulous conjectures of such men as ,plato and ,socrates4 ,among the moderns1 ,hobbes1 ,spinosa1 ,bayle1 etc41 have followed the steps of ,epicurus2 but their doctrine has found very few followers1 in a world1 still intoxicated with fables1 to listen to reason4 ,in every age1 it has been dangerous to depart from prejudices4 ,discoveries of every kind have been prohibited4 ,all that enlightened men could do1 was to speak ambiguously1 hence they often confounded falsehood with truth4 ,several had a double doctrine1 one public and the other secret2 the key of the latter being lost1 their true sentiments1 have often become unintelligible and consequently useless4 ,how could modern philosophers1 who1 under pain of cruel persecution1 were commanded to renounce reason1 and to subject it to faith1 that is1 to the authority of priests2 how1 ,i say1 could men1 thus bound1 give free scope to their genius1 improve reason1 and accelerate the progress of the human mind8 ,it was with fear and trembling that even the greatest men obtained a glimpse of truth2 rarely had they the courage to announce it2 and those1 who did1 were terribly punished4 ,with ,religion1 it has ever been unlawful to think1 or to combat the prejudices of which man is every where the victim and the dupe4 #bje4 ,every man1 sufficiently intrepid to announce truths to the world1 is sure of incurring the hatred of the ministers of ,religion1 who loudly call to their aid secular powers2 and want the assistance of laws to support both their arguments and their gods4 ,their clamours expose too evidently the weakness of their cause4 ,none call for aid but those who feel distressed4 ,in ,religion1 man is not permitted to err4 ,in general1 those who err are pitied1 and some kindness is shewn to persons who discover new truths2 but1 when ,religion is thought to be interested either in the errors or the discoveries1 a holy zeal is kindled1 the populace become frantic1 and nations are in an uproar4 ,can any thing be more afflicting1 than to see public and private felicity depending upon a futile system1 which is destitute if principles1 founded only on a distempered imagination1 and incapable of presenting any thing but words void of sense8 ,in what consists the so much boasted utility of a ,religion1 which nobody can comprehend1 which continually torments those who are weak enough to meddle with it1 which is incapable of rendering men better1 and which often makes them consider it meritorious to be unjust and wicked8 ,is there a folly more deplorable1 and more justly to be combated1 than that1 which far from doing any service to the human race1 only makes them blind1 delirious1 and miserable1 by depriving them of ,truth1 the sole cure for their wretchedness4 #bjf4 ,religion has ever filled the mind of man with darkness1 and kept him in ignorance of his real duties and true interests4 ,it is only by dispelling the clouds and phantoms of ,religion1 that we shall discover ,truth1 ,reason1 and ,morality4 ,religion diverts us from the causes of evils1 and from the remedies which nature prescribes2 far from curing1 it only aggravates1 multiplies1 and perpetuates them4 ,let us observe with the celebrated ,lord ,bolingbroke1 that theology is the box of ,pandora2 and if it is impossible to shut it1 it is at least useful to inform men1 that this fatal box is open4 ,,the ,,end4